The average tuition at Canadian universities rose by 4.3 per cent for full-time students in undergraduate programs this year, almost 40 per cent above inflation, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

The average tuition was $5,366 for the 2011/2012 academic year, compared with $5,146 a year earlier and that was a

4.0 per cent increase from 2009/10.

From July 2010 to the same month a year earlier, the Consumer Price Index was 2.7 per cent.

Tuition rose in all provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador, where they have been frozen since 2003/2004.

New Brunswick and Nova Scotia had frozen tuition fees for the last three years.

MBA most expensive

The cost of graduate degrees rose 3.7 per cent to a national average of $5,599. Graduate tuition was higher in every province except Newfoundland and Labrador, with increases ranging from 0.1 per cent in Alberta to 5.5 per cent in Ontario.

Graduate students in Ontario paid the highest average fees at $7,578, followed by students in Nova Scotia, who paid an average of $7,326 and British Columbia at $7,303.

The most expensive degrees were the executive master of business administration at $37,501 and the regular MBA program, at $21,528.

Undergraduate students in dentistry paid the highest average undergraduate fees of $16,024, followed by students in medicine $11,345 and pharmacy $9,806.

International undergraduate students paid 4.3 per cent more at a national average of $17,571, compared with a 5.2 per cent increase the year earlier, with Ontario recorded the largest increase at 6.1 per cent.

Additional compulsory fees for Canadian undergraduate students increased 5.5 per cent, to a national average of $820.