While the cost of living continues to rise across Ontario, one price that’s standing still is the cost of higher education.
The Ontario government recently announced it will be extending its tuition freeze for a third straight year.
“I’m really, really fortunate,” says Queen’s University PhD student Amy Parks.
Parks understands she’s one of the lucky few, as she hasn’t had to pay for the bulk of her PhD program.
“Most of it is covered by an SSHRC grant, which is from the Canadian government,” she says. “It’s the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.”
Despite not being directly affected by it, she appreciated the Ontario government’s recent declaration that the tuition freeze would continue for another year, and unsurprisingly, she wasn’t alone.
“Overall, I think it’s awesome,” says Queen’s student Rohan Kingwail. “For the broader population, I think it’s going to be good.”‘
“It brings me great joy that a lot of people will continue to pay an appropriate fee to be able to attend university,” adds Madeline McWilliam, another Queen’s student.
The schools themselves did not share in the excitement.
In an email to Global News, Glenn Vollebregt, president and CEO of St. Lawrence College, expressed his disappointment in the announcement, citing “significant cost pressures” that the freeze on fees makes it difficult to address.
The freeze doesn’t apply to out-of-province or international student tuition, which means it has the unfortunate effect of making school more expensive for those students, as schools try to compensate.
It’s a strategy Parks doesn’t believe is sustainable.
“If something happens internationally and those students can no longer be paying students at Queen’s because of international affairs and war,” she says.
Or a global pandemic that shut down international borders.
“That makes it hard to study anywhere,” says Parks.
The creation of a panel to help with maintaining financial stability of post-secondary schools is one thing the provincial government is doing to try and find a compromise.
“One step at a time,” says McWilliam. “It’s definitely a step in the right direction.”
But for now, the direction is a continued freeze until 2024, when hopefully that compromise can be struck.
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