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Tuition fees are rising faster than inflation: Statistics Canada

(October 20, 2009) Tuition fees for full-time undergraduate students have increased by an average of 3.6% for the second year in a row, according to a report released by Statistics Canada this week.

At the same time, inflation declined by 0.8% between August 2008 and 2009, compared with an increase of 3.5% the year before.

“Students and their families are being forced to bear the burden of paying for education more than ever before,” said Katherine Giroux-Bougard, National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. “By increasing tuition fees in a time of economic crisis, provincial governments are failing students.”

The cost of tuition rose everywhere except Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Students in Ontario are paying the highest tuition at an average of $5,951 per year.

“It is unacceptable that geography continues to be such a determining factor when it comes to the accessibility of post-secondary education,” said CAUT executive director James Turk.

“That’s why we continue to highlight the need for a Post-secondary Education Act which would establish guidelines for how funds transferred to the provinces for post-secondary education are spent, and create national standards for quality and accessibility,” he added.

Students also face increases of an average of 6.8% for additional compulsory fees compared with last year, leaving undergraduate students paying $749, up from $701 a year earlier.

Canadian graduate students face an even greater tuition fee increase than undergraduate students, paying an average of 4.7% more – or $6,008 – this year than last.

Undergraduate students in dentistry continue to pay the highest fees – an average of $13,988 – nearly three times the average of all undergraduate disciplines, followed by students in medicine who pay an average of $10,216.

The full report is available on the Statistics Canada web site here.