Post-secondary tuition freeze welcome news

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An extended tuition freeze for Ontario colleges and universities through the next academic year “makes sense” according to a local school administrator.

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Wednesday, the Ontario government announced the extension through 2022-23 as a means of “providing financial relief and predictability for students and families seeking access to affordable postsecondary education,” according to a media release.

“The way the last couple of years have rolled out, a tuition freeze makes sense by providing students with some sense of stability,” said Michael Silvaggi, student registrar at St. Clair College.

Student life has been in a state of flux since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 with school closures, remote learning, hybrid learning and ever-changing restrictions.

“There’s been a lot of initiatives around the impacts on mental health and learning online and the solitude. More than a few curves have been thrown at not just students but people in the community,” Silvaggi said.

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The Ontario government first announced a tuition freeze for the 2019-2020 year in conjunction with a 10 per cent reduction in tuition fees for that same year. The 2019-2020 tuition freeze was extended last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic but did not apply to out-of-province or international students.

“Students needed some stability given the impacts to part-time jobs and traditional part-time student jobs,” Silvaggi said.

Many traditional on-campus student jobs simply disappeared when schools closed due to the pandemic.

“Our government recognizes that students and their families make huge sacrifices to attend college and university, so our government will continue to look for ways to reduce financial barriers for learners,” said Jill Dunlop, Minister of Colleges and Universities.

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“By freezing tuition for another year, we are saying yes to ensuring that students have access to affordable, high-quality postsecondary education, and reducing the financial strain on families who have already faced so many challenges throughout the pandemic.”

The release stated that the government’s efforts to reduce and freeze tuition have provided students with tuition relief of about $450 million annually when compared to tuition costs in 2018-19.

“Increasing the affordability of college and university is part of Ontario’s plan to help people get the training they need to get good-paying jobs,” Dunlop said. “By extending the tuition freeze, we will ensure that students can obtain the skills they need to succeed in a highly-competitive global economy.” Administrators across the province anticipated a further freeze.

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“Our budget planning for 2022-23 assumed a continuation of a provincial freeze on domestic tuition, and today’s provincial announcement has now confirmed that.” said Gillian Heisz, University of Windsor’s Vice President, Finance & Operations.

“We will continue to move forward in our prudent planning, while finding creative solutions to ensure the continuation of exceptional student education and experiences and world-class research and innovation.”

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