Tuition makes Ontario costs highest in Canada, students say

NEWS RELEASE

ONTARIO UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT ALLIANCE

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Accessibility, affordability, at heart of students' 2013 provincial budget submission

TORONTO, March 12, 2013 - The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) is proud to release its 2013 Ontario Budget Submission.

Unlocking Student Potential: The Key to Ontario's Success includes six low- or cost-neutral recommendations for improving the affordability and accessibility of Ontario's post-secondary education system for students while also increasing economic benefit to Ontario.

"Lowering the cost of tuition is beneficial for both students and Ontario," said Alysha Li, president of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance. "Annual tuition increases of 5 per cent have made Ontario the most expensive place to study in Canada. Not only does this make our higher education system less accessible to students, but it also requires increasingly larger investments into financial aid by the government as the value of these grants, bursaries, and loans quickly erode due to rising costs."

To achieve a tuition framework that is more affordable for students and the government, students recommend that the government freeze tuition for at least one year and increase per-student funding to universities at the rate of inflation to partially compensate.

In the event tuition fees increase in future years, students recommend that they do not increase by more than the rate of inflation as measured by the Ontario Consumer Price Index.

"For a government committed to balancing the budget by 2018, investment in the higher education sector now will result in long-term cost reductions down the road," said Huzaifa Saeed, vice-president finance of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance. "Our recommendations for improvements to front-line mental health care on campuses, the creation of a comprehensive youth employment strategy, and increased student mobility between institutions will benefit both students and the provincial economy."

To read OUSA's 2013 Ontario Budget Submission, Unlocking Student Potential: The Key to Ontario's Success, click here.

About the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA)

OUSA represents the interests of over 155,000 professional and undergraduate, full- and part-time university students at nine member associations across Ontario.

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