The cost of an undergraduate education continues to grow more quickly than the rate of inflation, a Statistics Canada study released Friday suggests.

Undergraduate students will have to pay an average of 3.2 per cent more in tuition this year than they did last year, the federal agency said. Inflation was 2.4 per cent from July 2005 to July 2006, according to the Consumer Price Index.

Undergraduate students will pay an average of $4,347 in tuition fees this year, up from $4,211 last year.

Provincial governments began regulating tuition fees in 2000 to curb the rapid increases that began in the early 1990s. In the 1990-1991 academic year, fees across the country jumped an average of 15.2 per cent. By contrast, since 2000, the fees have grown by an annual average of 3.9 per cent.

Province	2006 Tuition Fees	Increase (%)
N.L.	$2,606	0
P.E.I.	$4,947	6.5
Nova Scotia	$6,571	3.9
New Brunswick	$5,328	5.8
Quebec	$1,916	0.8
Ontario	$5,160	4.6
Manitoba	$3,338	0.2
Saskatchewan	$5,063	0
Alberta	$4,828	-0.2
B.C.	$4,960	1.9

Despite the provinces' intervention, tuition fees between 1990 and 2004 grew by an average annual rate of 7.7 per cent.

This year, the highest increases are in P.E.I., where fees are up by 6.5 per cent. At the other end of the spectrum, average undergraduate tuition fees in Alberta went down a fraction of a per cent.

A tuition freeze for Quebec residents has ensured that undergrads in the province pay the lowest fees in the country — less than half the national average since the late 1990s. This academic year, undergraduates who live in Quebec will pay an average of $1,916.

Students in Nova Scotia, where the tuition increases are capped at 3.9 per cent per year, will pay the country's steepest fees. Tuition there costs an average of $6,571.

Architecture, commerce students face highest increases

Architecture students will pay an average of $3,805 in tuition, up 5.4 per cent from last year. Commerce students have similarly seen their tuition costs jump 4.8 per cent to an average of $3,989.

However the most expensive program remains dentistry, where the average tuition rings in at $13,463, followed by medicine where students face fees of $10,553.

Over the past five years, tuition fees for law students have jumped 65.4 per cent, the steepest increase of all faculties. This year, law school tuition is an average of $7,221, up from $6,904 last year.

Graduate fees balloon at twice the rate undergraduate costs

Graduate students will pay an average of $6,479, 5.6 per cent more than last year. Since 2001, graduate fees have jumped 44.1 per cent, led by British Columbia where fees increased a total of 184.4 per cent.

Graduate fees in Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador have dropped since 2001.

International students will also have to cover a 4.1 per cent increase this fall over last year. At the undergraduate level, average tuition fees for these students is $13,205, more than three times the amount Canadian students pay.

Compulsory fees also increase

The national average for compulsory fees, covering recreation, student health services and student association services, also has jumped four per cent from last year. Undergraduate students this year will pay an average of $619, up from $595 last year.

The fees have declined in B.C., Saskatchewan and New Brunswick.

Students in Ontario and P.E.I. face the highest compulsory fees while undergraduates in New Brunswick are billed the lowest amount.

Student groups call on federal government to act

The Canadian Federation of Students, an alliance of 80 university and college student unions, said the federal government has failed to reduce tuition fees and called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to make higher education more affordable.

"Tuition fees and student debt are out of control in many regions," Amanda Aziz, national chairwoman for the CFS, said in a release. "More federal inaction will only keep post-secondary education out of reach for thousands of students."

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, a national lobby group pressing for education reforms, also called on the government to make post-secondary education more accessible.

"The federal government must make post-secondary education a priority. On repeated occasions we have heard all levels of government claim education as a main concern, it is time for the federal government to end the rhetoric and assume a leadership role," Phillippe Ouellette, national director of CASA, said.