Drop Fees for a Poverty-Free Ontario
Drop Fees
JOIN THE MOVEMENT!
Click below to visit DropFees.ca.
Over the last 20 years there has been a steady decline of provincial and federal funding for post-secondary education. This has resulted in the provincial government and individual university and college administrations replacing the lost funding with tuition fees and other user fees. In the early 1990s, user fees accounted for an average of 21 per cent of an institution’s operating budget. Today user fees cover almost 50 per cent of the institution’s budget.
In Ontario, the provincial policy for domestic students is tuition fee increases of 4 to 8 per cent each year, resulting in 20 to 36 per cent hikes over four years of study. These increases are among the highest in the country (see chart).
Ontario's policy of tuition fee increases is a political choice that the government has made, and it deviates from other provinces that have frozen and reduced tuition fees. In fact, some countries such as Ireland, Brazil and Sweden do not charge any tuition fees for education.
Click below to visit DropFees.ca.
Over the last 20 years there has been a steady decline of provincial and federal funding for post-secondary education. This has resulted in the provincial government and individual university and college administrations replacing the lost funding with tuition fees and other user fees. In the early 1990s, user fees accounted for an average of 21 per cent of an institution’s operating budget. Today user fees cover almost 50 per cent of the institution’s budget.
In Ontario, the provincial policy for domestic students is tuition fee increases of 4 to 8 per cent each year, resulting in 20 to 36 per cent hikes over four years of study. These increases are among the highest in the country (see chart).
Ontario's policy of tuition fee increases is a political choice that the government has made, and it deviates from other provinces that have frozen and reduced tuition fees. In fact, some countries such as Ireland, Brazil and Sweden do not charge any tuition fees for education.
Tuition Fee Facts
• "Tuition" is defined as: "teaching or instruction, as of pupils" - it is NOT supposed to be about charging money! What you are paying is not "tuition", it is "tuition fees".
• Ontario has the HIGHEST rising tuition fees in Canada!
• Ontario has the poorest post-secondary funding in Canada or the U.S., second only to Alabama!
• Other provinces have frozen and REDUCED tuition fees, including Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Nefoundland-Labrador!
• Some countries have NO tuition fees! (Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, and Cuba to name a few)
MYTH: Inflation accounts for rising tuition fees.
FACT: Tuition fees increase at a rate much higher than inflation. (4 times higher over the last 10 years) Governments have pulled their support for affordable post-secondary education, and institutions have responded by hiking fees.
In 2003, students successfully won a tuition fee freeze in Ontario. After two years, the Liberals scrapped the freeze and implemented a tuition fee structure that allows for the fastest rising fees in CANADA.
THIS YEAR, the funding formula expires. STUDENTS NEED TO BE HEARD!
WE WON THE FREEZE - WE CAN DO IT AGAIN.
Fact Sheet: Tuition Fees in Canada
Click 'Download' below to view/download a Pan-Canadian perspective on educational user fees.
Post-Secondary Education Stimulus
Change for Ontario: Proposal for a Post-Secondary Education Stimulus Package
Access, quality and infrastructure: the three pillars of a post-secondary education sector stimulus package.
Recently the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario released an education stimulus package. Endorsed by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), the stimulus package recommends that the provincial government target funding toward post-secondary education’s “Big Three:” access, quality and infrastructure.
“As the majority stakeholders within the post-secondary education sector, we have come together to present Dalton McGuinty with recommendations that will help to foster economic recovery,” said Shelley Melanson, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario. “Students, staff and faculty are calling on the government to implement our stimulus package which would invest in the economy through expanding innovation, creativity and knowledge.”
Launched one week prior to the Ontario 2009 budget, the package includes a number of recommendations that centre on access to and quality of post-secondary education, and infrastructure improvements.
“An investment in post-secondary education is desperately needed by Ontario’s colleges, and is the best way to address the current economic downturn,” said Paddy Musson, Chair of OPSEU’s Academic Division and Professor of Sociology at Fanshawe College. “The colleges have always responded to inadequate funding by reducing the teaching staff with the result being a decline in quality. Adequately funded, quality education is a powerful tool to help climb us out of this economic downturn. It is a sound and necessary investment in our future”
“Quality is critical to student success,” said Mark Rosenfeld, OCUFA Associate Executive Director. “Investments in faculty positions and in deferred maintenance will both stimulate the economy and help ensure that the post-secondary education sector is well-funded and sustainable.”
The Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario represents over 300,000 students across the province. OPSEU represents more than 12,000 professors, counsellors and librarians at Ontario’s 24 colleges. OCUFA represents over 15,000 professors and academic librarians at Ontario’s universities.
Click the link below to view the full proposal.
Public Opinion: Reduce Tuition Fees
Ontario Voters Oppose Tuition Fee Hikes
The Canadian Federation of Students regularly conducts research, including sampling public opinion to gage the support of voters for students’ campaign goals.
The most recent public opinion poll was about Ontario voters’ attitudes on the McGuinty government’s “Reaching Higher” plan for post-secondary education.
It was conducted by the Feedback Research Corporation following the February 7, 2007 National Student Day of Action and prior to the presentation of the 2007 Ontario Budget.
The poll focused on the affordability of post-secondary education and the fairness of tuition fees in the province. It found that:
- 82% of voters are concerned about the affordability of college and university education; and
- of those, 82% attribute that concern to the financial barriers of high tuition fees and inadequate student financial assistance; and
- 75% percent of Ontarians agree that tuition fees should be reduced.