New framework keeps Ontario tuition fees highest in Canada

TORONTO, Sept. 12, 2013 /CNW/ - For the fifth year in a row, Ontario students will pay the highest average tuition fees in Canada. On average, undergraduate students pay $7,259 and graduate students pay $8,456 in tuition fees. In both cases, students pay almost $1,500 more than the national average.

"Students are already visiting campus food banks at unprecedented levels, struggling to find work and taking on record-high levels of student debt," said Alastair Woods, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario. "What will it take for the Liberal government to see that year over year tuition fee increases have put students in crisis?"

In March, the Liberal government announced a new tuition fee framework that will see tuition fees increase for most students by three to five per cent each year for the next four years. Under the framework, international student tuition fees will remain completely unregulated.

Research published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives yesterday found that given current policy, first year students in Ontario can expect to pay almost $10,000 in tuition and other compulsory fees by their fourth year. The research also found that, even accounting for the Ontario Tuition Grant, Ontario was one of the least affordable provinces in which to study for low- and middle-income families.

"At a time when most jobs require some college or university education, the Liberal government should be investing in reducing tuition fees instead of bankrupting a generation," said Woods.

Students put forward a plan to reduce tuition fees by 30 per cent over three years, which included a cost-neutral proposal to reduce tuition fees by 17 per cent this September.

The Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario represents more than 300,000 college, undergraduate and graduate students in all regions of the province.

SOURCE: Canadian Federation of Students - Ontario

Alastair Woods, Chairperson: 647-378-8942 (cell) or [email protected] 
Kaley Kennedy, Communications and Government Relations Coordinator: 647-302-3891 (cell) or [email protected]