Media Advisory - Students available to comment: Stats Can Report to reveal a
new record for tuition fees in Ontario

TORONTO , Oct. 19 /CNW/ - The annual Statistics Canada report on tuition fees, scheduled for release tomorrow, will reveal a new record for fees in Ontario. Students anticipate that the tight race between Nova Scotia and Ontario will result in Ontario as the new title holder for the highest tuition fees in Canada . While tuition fees have been frozen in Nova Scotia, Ontario's fees have once again leapt between 4 and 8 percent. Students anxiously anticipate Ontario to emerge as the most expensive province in Canada to obtain a post-secondary education.

Tuition fees in Ontario have been rising on average, by five percent annually since 2006. Graduate tuition fees in Ontario have been the highest in Canada for several years. Since cancelling the tuition fee freeze in 2006, the McGuinty government has allowed tuition fees to increase from between 20-36 percent over four years.

After a summer with record-high youth unemployment, students are baring the brunt of the recession and have received no relief from mounting student debt. Tomorrow's report is expected to illustrate the concerns that have been raised by students about the diminishing accessibility of post-secondary education.

    
        WHAT: Annual Statistics Canada tuition fee data for 2009-2010

        WHEN: Data will be released at 8:15 am, comment available all day

        WHO: Students available for comment from all regions of Ontario,
        including the Ontario Chairperson Shelley Melanson
    

The Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario is the province's largest student advocacy organization, representing more than 300,000 college and university students in all regions of Ontario.

For further information: Shelley Melanson, Ontario Chairperson, [phone]; Joel Duff, Ontario Organiser, [phone]; Roxanne Dubois, Ontario Treasurer (French Language contact), [phone]