A day after Alberta premier Ralph Klein announced a one-year tuition freeze in Alberta, Saskatchewan's university students are upping the ante with demands for a two-year freeze.

Student groups at the University of Regina and University of Saskatchewan were holding rallies on Wednesday in support of a two-year freeze.

In past years, tuition-freeze campaigns haven't produced results, but the Klein announcement may give some new life to the issue.

Klein said if universities raise tuition next year, the province will pick up the tab so students won't pay more. It's expected to cost the Klein government $43 million.

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The average Saskatchewan university undergraduate tuition last year was $4,644 – about $600 more than the national average.

Tuition in Saskatchewan has increased by 132 per cent in real terms since 1990-'91, compared to 112 per cent nationally.

Student leaders also argue that debt has tripled in the last 10 years and Saskatchewan's enrolment has decreased.

U of S student union president Gavin Gardiner said the constant cost increases are forcing some students to work part time jobs and take fewer classes per semester.

Leah Sharpe, a vice-president with the U of R student union, said students are wondering just how high tuition could go.

"By the time their children want to attend university, it's going to be $20,000 a year," she said.

Saskatchewan Learning Minister said tuition freezes have been tried in other provinces, but in general, they don't work. When the freeze ends, tuition will often take a big jump, he said.