Ontario post-secondary students will be at Queen's Park today to express their disappointment with the new provincial tuition framework. According to the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA), students will present educated solutions through the tuition framework analysis entitled Failing to Make the Grade, and will also grade the provincial government in key areas related to higher education.

The analysis demonstrates how the new tuition framework will impact Ontario post-secondary students, outlining which components of the framework do not adequately meet the needs of students and what steps are still needed to ensure the province's universities are of high quality and accessible to all.

"There are positive aspects to the tuition framework, but some areas are incomplete and actually fail students," said Stephanie Murray, President of OUSA. "First and foremost the up to eight per cent tuition hikes are an unfair burden for students to bear when they are already paying proportionally more than their Canadian counterparts. Furthermore, not inextricably linking financial aid to tuition increases will erode the impact of aid over time."

A key recommendation of the post-secondary review, led by former premier Bob Rae, was to fully repair inadequate student financial assistance, a major barrier to access, before altering tuition policy. While the government has made positive enhancements to student assistance, they are unlikely to measurably increase access to Ontario universities for underrepresented groups, such as first-generation, aboriginal, and rural and northern students.

"The tuition framework does not outline an adequate strategy to improve access for underrepresented demographics," said Scott Courtice, Executive Director of OUSA. "As the government has no long-term plan to improve access, it is irresponsible to increase tuition. Altering the state of tuition before introducing critical reforms to student financial assistance runs the risk of making inequities worse before making them better."

Students are concerned that the new tuition framework will hit middle-income students hardest, who according to a recent Statistics Canada report are already less likely to pursue professional degrees due to rising tuition fees. While the expansion of the grants program will assist some of these students the level of assistance will be eroded by potential increases in tuition fees above three times the rate of inflation.

"The recent findings from the Statistics Canada report suggest that financial aid programs are directed to an overly narrow income band, and are neglecting students from middle-income backgrounds who still struggle with the costs of post-secondary education," said Courtice. "Expanding access grants to middle-income students is a great start, but we are concerned that many middle income students will still be left behind, especially in high-cost professional programs."

To read the full analysis, visit
http://www.ousa.ca/page.php?id=70.

About OUSA:
OUSA represents the interests of over 125,000 professional and undergraduate, full- and part-time university students at seven institutions across Ontario. For more information on OUSA's current policy and campaign initiatives, please visit www.ousa.ca.

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