N.S. students face tuition hike
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The provincial government announced it would cap tuition rate hikes at three per cent. (Photo: Patrick Odell)
The Nova Scotia government announced Tuesday that the tuition freeze is over.
The new plan is to let tuition increase by three per cent annually over the next three years.
The government said schools will be allowed to increase tuition $154 per year for undergraduate students from Nova Scotia, or $185 for out-of-province undergraduates.
While the province is keeping the student bursary program in place, which gives $29 million annually to students for tuition, it will reduce grant funding to universities by four per cent.
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Tuition rates in Nova Scotia since the 2003-04 school year. (Graph: Marie David, Samantha Durnford)
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Marilyn More, minister of labour and advanced education, said "the four per cent reduction will admittedly be a challenge for [universities], because we're also asking them to absorb their own inflationary costs and wage increases."
Reaction
Student groups said they feel slighted because the decision was made before their meeting with More on Tuesday.
Gabe Hoogers, the Nova Scotia director of the Canadian Federation of Students, said Tuesday morning that student groups "have been entirely shut out, sadly," because government has already made the decision to let tuition rise.
Kiki Wood, University of King's College students' union president, said the news was disappointing.
"They're saying post-secondary education isn't a priority," she said.
The reaction from other student leaders and government critics was similar.
Kelly Regan, labour and advanced education critic for the Nova Scotia Liberal Party, characterized the government's tactics as "distressing."
She requested a briefing on Tuesday's events from the NDP, but was not given one.
Poor timing
Hoogers also said the timing of the Tuesday meeting was awkward.
He said student leaders were unable to attend because of responsibilities on their campuses regarding Wednesday's Student Day of Action, a city-wide rally to reduce tuition fees.
When asked if there was any connection between the timing of the announcement and the day of action, Kevin Finch, communications advisor for the labour and advanced education department, said, "No there isn't."
Rebecca Rose, Maritimes organizer for the Canadian Federation of Students, said, "I think there is absolutely a connection, and to say there isn't is amusing and ridiculous."
Not ready to give up
Despite the announcement, Hoogers won't give up. He said it's not too late to be included in the process, because the tuition increase won't become law until the budget is passed this spring.
Wood said "nothing is set in stone."
However, More said the three per cent cap and the four per cent cut to university funding is final.
Last September the government released the Report on the University System in Nova Scotia, written by former Bank of Montreal vice president Tim O'Neill.
The report suggested increasing tuition fees, raising or eliminating the cap on student loans, and using a portion of those tuition fees to fund the loans.
Student groups have opposed the recommendations in the report.
"The NDP government is using the O'Neill report to justify funding cuts and tuition fee hikes, policies they previously condemned," said Hoogers in the statement released Monday night.
Nova Scotia students already pay some of the highest tuition fees in the country.
Statistics Canada reported that Nova Scotia students paid the third highest average tuition in Canada at $5,495 in 2010/2011, compared to the national average of $5,138.
Student Day of Action
The student unions from each university are busy this week preparing for the Student Day of Action.
Wood sees the tuition announcement as one more reason to march.
Rose sees it as a government attempt to destabilize the student protest.
Students protesters will gather at their respective schools to rally, before marching down to Victoria Park to hear speeches. They will then march down to Province House for three more speeches.
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The MPHEC graphic you use does not include the bursary that students in Nova Scotia receive; you'll have to ask MPHEC why not. From our Higher Education Branch: "The StatsCan average of $5,495 is for all undergraduate tuitions in Nova Scotia. It is an average that is weighted by enrolments in each program at each university and takes into account the bursary. The MPHEC data is a straight mathematical average of Arts tuition fees at our eleven universities and it includes AST, which is only graduate tuition. The MPHEC data does not reflect the bursary reduction." www.gov.ns.ca/lwd/docs/StudentAssisUniversityFundBG.pdf provides a broader context. Cheers. Kevin Finch Communications Advisor Labour and Advanced Education
Posted by Kevin Finch | Feb 3, 2011