Students at the University of Calgary are not the only ones facing rising tuition. In the United States, tuition and fees for full-time community college students have, on average, risen an estimated 11.5 per cent. Although nearly half the states had increases of less than 10 per cent in community college fees, California and Virginia had increases of 60.3 and 42 per cent increases respectively.
Tuition increases can be largely attributed to cuts in both state and local funding. For every three per cent cut in funding, tuition must be increased by 8.4 per cent in order to keep operating revenues static, or 18 per cent if inflation is considered.
Of all undergraduates in the U.S., nearly half attend community colleges, and enrollment has greatly increased recently. Due to these increases in enrolment and tuition, access is restricted.
"Just as worrisome is the fact that some public universities are limiting the number of community college transfer students they will accept or, worse, imposing new and extreme entrance requirements targeted just to transfer students," said American Association of Community Colleges President George R. Boggs. "It’s a breach in the educational access that is one of our most treasured national ideals and a mortgage on the future of our students."