Tuesday, September 14, 2004

SPOTLIGHT: Tuition fees

Degree of relief

MANY university students are getting a bit of a break in the cost of their education this fall after years of substantial increases in tuition fees.

Undergraduate university students can expect to pay 3.9% more on average in tuition fees when they return to school this fall, the smallest increase in three years.

However, this average is lower because four provinces have capped tuition fees: Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, and Ontario. At the same time, British Columbia lifted its cap on tuition increases.

On average, undergraduate students will pay $4,172 in tuition fees for the 2004/05 academic year, up from $4,018 the year before. This is almost triple the average of $1,464 in 1990/91, the result of significant increases during the 1990s.

Rate of increase slower

The rate of increase has slowed during the past four years, following fee hikes that reached an annual average increase of 9.7% during the 1990s. Since 1999/00, the rate of increase of tuition fees has slowed to an annual average of 5.3%.

Average tuition fees still continue to rise faster than inflation.

Between 1990/91 and 2002/03, tuition fees increased at an average annual rate of 8.1%, four times the average rate of inflation of 1.9% as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

Universities in British Columbia posted the largest increase for the third year in a row. Students there will be paying 15.6% more, although this is only about half the increase the year before. The province lifted a six-year tuition freeze in 2002/03.

The highest fees are again in Nova Scotia, where average tuition will cost $5,984 this fall, a 7.7% hike. That's followed by Ontario, where undergrads will pay an average of $4,960, up only 1.0%.

Unchanged in Newfoundland and Labrador

In Newfoundland and Labrador, they remained unchanged at an average of $2,606. Fees in Newfoundland and Labrador have declined 22.7% since the academic year 1999/2000.

In Manitoba, where tuition fees have fallen about 9.4% since the beginning of the decade, students will pay an average of $3,160.

Quebec undergrads continue to pay the lowest fees in the country as a result of an eight-year tuition freeze that has kept fees at an average of $1,683 a year for resident students. However, students from other provinces attending universities in Quebec will have to pay $4,599 on average, up 6.0%.

Students in graduate programs are facing increases similar to the undergraduate level, with average tuition rising 4.3% to $5,475. This rate of increase is the smallest since 1994/95.

For more information, contact Eda Reganaz (613-951-7556), Centre for Education Statistics.

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© 2004, Statistics Canada.