Alberta tuition third highest in country: StatsCan

By Daniel Pagan

Alberta students pay the third-highest tuition in the country, coming in at over $600 more per year than the national average.

According to a Statistics Canada report, undergraduate tuition went up by four per cent last year to an average of $5,520.

The report also highlighted Alberta’s high compulsory fees, which increased by 31 per cent last year.

“It is unbelievable that Alberta has the third highest tuition in the country, especially when you consider that other provinces are surely envious [of] our relative economic position,” said Students’ Union president Charlotte Kingston, in a recent release. “The only comfort students can take in the face of these disappointing stats is they will only face a maximum 1.5 per cent tuition increase this coming year in accordance with the Tuition Fee Policy.”

The top of the list of the highest tuition fees in the county belongs to Ontario.

Undergrad students in that province shell out $1,000 more than the national average, while graduate tuition fees beat the national average by $2,600. Canadian Federation of Students’ Ontario chairperson Shelly Melanson warned that “winning the prize for the highest fees in the country,” is not a great distinction for Premier Dalton McGuinty. Fees have been increasing between 20 and 36 per cent since McGuinty cancelled a provincial tuition fee freeze in 2006.