Alberta students face tuition spike for some post-secondary degrees
Market modifiers worth $21M to universities, government says
Fee hikes imposed by the Alberta government mean some post-secondary students will be paying a lot more for their degree programs in 2015.
The government has approved tuition increases in 25 programs across the province. The so-called market modifiers are designed to bring tuition costs closer in line with similar programs across the country.
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The increases will bring in an additional $21 million to Alberta campuses, the government says. Students already enrolled in those programs will not be affected by the hikes.
"Students have been calling on them to shut this loophole and to stop market modifiers for months and months and months, and we've been asking questions in the legislature during the session and we got no answers," NDP Leader Rachel Notley told CBC News.
"And then, two days before Christmas, these guys approve 25 market modifiers. That is one of the most cynical pieces of politics I've ever seen."
The provincial government legislated in 2006 that tuition cannot rise at a rate higher than inflation, which rose to 2.5 per cent in Alberta in July 2014 compared with July 2013.
However, the current legislation allows for market modifiers as a one-off increase to bring tuition fees in line with other institutions if the school looking to raise tuition can show a clear discrepancy.