Tuition fees on the rise
Ontario once again higher than national average
OTTAWA (CUP) — Students across Canada have experienced a 3.6 per cent increase in tuition fees for the 2008-09 academic year compared to last year, according to a recent Statistics Canada report.
The document, released Oct. 9, indicated the rate was higher than the 2.8 per cent increase witnessed in 2007-08.
The report also cites that since the 1998-99 academic year — when students paid about $3,064 nationally — tuition fees have been on the rise at an average of 4.4 per cent, while inflation has only increased at an average rate of 2.3 per cent over the same period. The current national average sits at $4,724.
“As the economy continues to slow down, higher education and re-training will be critical to minimizing the impact on low- and middle-income families,” said Katherine Giroux-Bougard, Canadian Federation of Students national chairperson, in a press release. “Canada's economic health depends on affordable post-secondary education.”
Ontario students, who pay some of the highest tuition fees in the country, saw an increase of 4.7 per cent from last year. Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island also witnessed tuition increases, while scholarly fees in the rest of the country remained about the same.
“It just proves that Ontario . . . is just headed in the absolute wrong direction. We're out of step with the rest of the provinces and the government is out of step with Canadians on how accessible they want their post-secondary education,” said Seamus Wolfe, VP university affairs of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa.
Federico Carvajal, external commissioner for the Graduate Students' Association at the U of O and chair of the CFS Ontario Graduate Caucus, says graduate students have been hit hard by the latest increases in fees as well.
“Ontario pays the highest graduate tuition fees [in] Canada,” Carvajal said. “It's becoming an issue of access for graduate students — with the increase of undergraduate tuition fees, people are graduating with larger and larger debts, which means that they're less likely to go on to graduate school, especially if they have to be burdened with the highest tuition fees in the country.”
While the federal report stated that graduate students witnessed a smaller tuition increase over last year — 3.3 per cent — grads continue to pay more in tuition generally, as the national average for graduate students currently sits at $5,777.
Wolfe says the latest tuition increases act as more motivation for students to get involved in the provincial day of action against tuition fees on Nov. 5, part of the CFS Drop Fees campaign in partnership with the SFUO, GSAÉD, the Carleton University Students' Association, and the Carleton Graduate Students' Association.
“The student movement in Ontario [has to] stay strong because this is something that if we don't band together to fight, we're going to . . . have an even more serious crisis on our hands,” Wolfe said.
OTTAWA (CUP) — Students across Canada have experienced a 3.6 per cent increase in tuition fees for the 2008-09 academic year compared to last year, according to a recent Statistics Canada report.
The document, released Oct. 9, indicated the rate was higher than the 2.8 per cent increase witnessed in 2007-08.
The report also cites that since the 1998-99 academic year — when students paid about $3,064 nationally — tuition fees have been on the rise at an average of 4.4 per cent, while inflation has only increased at an average rate of 2.3 per cent over the same period. The current national average sits at $4,724.
“As the economy continues to slow down, higher education and re-training will be critical to minimizing the impact on low- and middle-income families,” said Katherine Giroux-Bougard, Canadian Federation of Students national chairperson, in a press release. “Canada's economic health depends on affordable post-secondary education.”
Ontario students, who pay some of the highest tuition fees in the country, saw an increase of 4.7 per cent from last year. Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island also witnessed tuition increases, while scholarly fees in the rest of the country remained about the same.
“It just proves that Ontario . . . is just headed in the absolute wrong direction. We're out of step with the rest of the provinces and the government is out of step with Canadians on how accessible they want their post-secondary education,” said Seamus Wolfe, VP university affairs of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa.
Federico Carvajal, external commissioner for the Graduate Students' Association at the U of O and chair of the CFS Ontario Graduate Caucus, says graduate students have been hit hard by the latest increases in fees as well.
“Ontario pays the highest graduate tuition fees [in] Canada,” Carvajal said. “It's becoming an issue of access for graduate students — with the increase of undergraduate tuition fees, people are graduating with larger and larger debts, which means that they're less likely to go on to graduate school, especially if they have to be burdened with the highest tuition fees in the country.”
While the federal report stated that graduate students witnessed a smaller tuition increase over last year — 3.3 per cent — grads continue to pay more in tuition generally, as the national average for graduate students currently sits at $5,777.
Wolfe says the latest tuition increases act as more motivation for students to get involved in the provincial day of action against tuition fees on Nov. 5, part of the CFS Drop Fees campaign in partnership with the SFUO, GSAÉD, the Carleton University Students' Association, and the Carleton Graduate Students' Association.
“The student movement in Ontario [has to] stay strong because this is something that if we don't band together to fight, we're going to . . . have an even more serious crisis on our hands,” Wolfe said.
