Canada $5,138
2009/2010 $4,924
Change +4.0%
Nova Scotia $5,752
2009/2010 $5,495
Change -4.5%
Quebec $2,415
2009/2010 $2,309
Change +4.6%
Ontario $6,307
2009/2010 $5,985
Change +5.4%

With students struggling to pay their tuition fees, news that Ontario students pay more than anywhere else in Canada has many Carleton students wondering why.

A Statistics Canada report released Sept. 16 found Ontario students faced the highest increase in tuition, at 5.4 per cent for undergraduate students, and paid the highest tuition at $6,307 on average.

Sandy Hudson, Ontario chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), said the government attempted to cap tuition increases at 5 per cent for undergraduate students and 8 per cent for graduate students.

“Apparently these policies are being enacted, but not followed,” Hudson said, noting the increases were over the provincial limits both for undergrads at 5.4 per cent and for graduate students at 10 per cent.

She said the CFS’s Education is a Right campaign is an attempt to bring equality in education across the nation by pressuring the federal government.
“If nobody does anything, I’m not confident that a politician will wake up one day and say, ‘Hey, I think I’m going to reduce tuition fees today.’ ”

Third-year women and gender studies student Maddie McCulloch said although she’s frustrated the government didn’t meet its goals, she’s not surprised.

“It doesn’t really surprise me to be honest. I don’t expect any less from politicians.”

Currently in Ontario, about 47 per cent of the cost of a post-secondary education comes from tuition fees, while 50 per cent comes from government grants, according to Duncan Watt, Carleton’s vice-president (finance and administration).

The remaining 3 per cent comes from miscellaneous sources, Watt said.

“The government in Ontario finds itself in a tough spot. If it were going to increase the grants, they would have to either be increasing the deficit or take that money from somewhere else,” Watt said.

Thirty years ago, the ratio was roughly 80 per cent grants and 20 per cent tuition, Watt said.

But are Ontario students getting more bang for their buck?

Carleton University Students’ Association vice-president (student issues) Dina Skvirsky said  Ontario maintains the highest class sizes and worst faculty-to-student ratio in the country, even with the highest tuition fees.

“It just doesn’t seem fair,” Skvirsky said. “Especially since we’re paying the most. We shouldn’t have the biggest classes. That seems backward.”

Skvirsky said the best way to reverse the tuition increases and achieve accessible education is through lobbying the government.

“We’re asking the federal government to take responsibility for education,” she said. “It’s disturbing to hear stories about people having to take two jobs.”

Students on the other side of the Ottawa River, however, enjoy the lowest tuition fees in the country. Students in Quebec pay on average $2,415.

See the full StatsCan report here.