The tuition freeze was introduced in 2015 as a temporary measure while the Government of Alberta promised to review the cost of post-secondary education.

Three years later, students remain concerned about what will happen once the freeze is lifted.

CAUS calls upon the Government of Alberta to release the results of its tuition review and make a decision for the future of the cost of Post-Secondary Education in Alberta, and recommends the following:

●     Rolling back tuition to 1992 levels, increased by CPI for each subsequent year, and tying all future increases to CPI

●     Placing the regulation of tuition back into the Post-Secondary Learning Act 

●     Regulating the international student tuition differential to offer more stability and predictability for international students

●     Removing all existing market modifiers, and removing Section 5.1 from the Tuition Fees Regulation, ‘Market modification for tuition fees for specific programs’

●     Eliminating the ‘basket of goods’ mandatory non-instructional fees if they aren’t transparent, or have not been subjected to a student-based approval mechanism

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In 2015, the Government of Alberta announced a tuition freeze as a temporary measure while they engaged in a comprehensive tuition review. While the tuition freeze will continue into a fourth academic year, students are becoming increasingly concerned about the result of tuition and fee rates in Alberta once the freeze ends.

As demonstrated in other provinces who implemented similar measures, students were met with substantial increases to their tuition once the freezes were lifted. For example, when the Government of British Columbia lifted their tuition freeze in 2001, undergraduate tuition fees rose by more than 25% from 2001 to 2003, and continued to rise by 30.4% in 2003 to 2004. Students in Saskatchewan also experienced large tuition increases when their freeze was lifted.

CAUS believes a long term, stable, predictable tuition policy, cemented in legislation needs to be implemented in order to serve the needs of all stakeholders involved, including government, institutions, and students. By implementing and communicating the year-to-year costs of post-secondary education, students and their families can successfully plan for their futures. 

Specifically, we recommend that the Government of Alberta use the 2019 Budget to spearhead legislative changes that reflect stable and predictable tuition costs for students, and showcase their commitment to affordability and accessibility through these important policy changes.  

Since the removal of the tuition cap from legislation in 2006, CAUS has continually advocated for tuition regulation to be placed back into the Post-Secondary Learning Act, and calls for a reduction of tuition rates to those that were enjoyed by previous generations of students, indexed by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). We strongly believe in a post-secondary system that exemplifies the underlying principles of accessibility, quality, and affordability, and are eagerly looking to the Government of Alberta to commit to and fulfill their promises.