Ontario has the highest undergraduate tuition in the country, according to figures released by Statistics Canada last Tuesday. Universities raised undergraduate fees by five per cent, the maximum allowed under provincial legislation, to an average of $5,951.

Tuition fees for Canadian full-time undergraduate students have increased by 3.6 per cent overall for the 2009-2010 academic year, matching last year’s increase. International and grad students saw bigger tuition hikes than last year. The average undergraduate tuition fee in Canada is now $4,917, up from $4,747 last year. Students are also paying more in additional compulsory fees, which are up 6.8 per cent this year. This is double the increase last year, when fees rose by 3.3 per cent.

“I worked all the way through university, but have little to show for it,” said UTSC alum Matt Mooney, who graduated in 2009 with a degree in history and human geography. “Tuition fees were already exorbitant and most students incur tens of thousands of dollars debt […] Perhaps it will discourage people from continuing their education, exacerbate class divisions, or cause students to seek education outside of Ontario.”

Nova Scotia’s tuition fees, which were the most expensive last year, now stand at an average of $5,696, down 3.1 per cent.

Quebec still has the lowest fees, with undergrads paying an average of $2,272.

Both Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick saw no tuition fee increases this year, while Manitoba and Saskatchewan ended their freeze on tuition fees, increasing their fees by 4.4 and 3.4 per cent respectively.

The fee hikes remain more moderate than those in the 1990s, when undergraduate students saw an annual average 9.6 per cent increase in fees.

Undergraduate international students are paying 7.1 per cent more this year for tuition, compared to the 3.9 per cent increase in fees for the 2008-2009 school year. The average tuition for these students now stands at $15,674 a year. International students in graduate programs saw a slightly smaller increase, at an average of 5.1 per cent.

Graduate students are paying 4.7 per cent more in fees than last year, compared to a 3.3 per cent increase last year.

“I think most students would be interested in seeing a specific break-down of how the university spends their money—something beyond the basic invoice or receipt,” said Mooney. “Also, [they would be interested in] better justification for why the fees have been rising consistently in recent history.”

—WITH FILES FROM NOLAN SHERBAN