Canada’s Tuition Fees Out-Run Inflation

In today’s “Daily,” Statistics Canada reported what students and their parents kinda know: education costs are still rising much faster than inflation.

With recent low economic growth, inflation has not gone up much in recent years. Between July 2011 and July 2012, it rose by just 1.3 per cent.

But – as in previous years – Canada’s average university tuition fees are still rising several times higher than inflation.

Undergraduate Tuition Fees

This entry-level stage of education was hit the worst. Undergraduate programs cost an average 5% more for the current 2012-2013 academic year than they did last year. Across Canada, the average is now $5,581.

And last year (2011-2012), they increased 4.3 per cent over the previous school year.

That’s an average tuition increase of 9.3% in the past 2 years.

Tuition fees rose in all but one province, Newfoundland and Labrador, where they have been frozen for both undergraduate and graduate students since 2003/2004.

Across the rest of Canada, undergrad tuition increases this year ranged from 2.0% in British Columbia to 10.1% in Quebec.

Graduate Tuition Fees

Canada’s average fee rise was slightly lower for graduate programs. Students enrolled in a graduate program paid an average $5,695 in tuition fees in 2012/2013, up 4.5%, following a 3.7% advance a year earlier.

Other Charges

Compulsory education fees for Canadian undergraduate students increased 3.3% (to an average $750) in 2012/2013 compared with the previous year. This, of course, also ran well beyond inflation.

That $750 number may seem low to some. One reason is that Stats Canada no longer includes "partial" compulsory university fees for items such as health and dental plans. That’s because students can normally avoid payment if they show proof of comparable coverage.