Maple Spring, ten years later | The winner ? Draw

Since the maple spring, the bill imposed on university students has increased twice as fast as inflation. Despite everything, university attendance has jumped, even in a context where the population of age to undertake a baccalaureate has stagnated. The columnist Francis Vailles explains this remarkable phenomenon.

I was a green square, I admit it. Why ? Because I thought our system was unfair.

With our low tuition fees, Quebec taxpayers find themselves subsidizing future well-to-do workers, whose university degrees will bring in a lot of money. Wouldn’t it be fairer to let these future wealthy lawyers and engineers finance their own future?

I still think so, but I had underestimated two things. First, that a large number of students did not have as much financial assistance from their parents as I imagined, making the $1,625 increase over five years demanded by the Charest government very painful. Then, that low tuition fees are seen in Quebec as an achievement of social democracy.

In the end, the solution negotiated by the government of Pauline Marois in 2013 was probably optimal, in the tense context of the time. The fees are indexed each year, as demanded by the universities, and the less fortunate are fully compensated for these increases. And of course, we put aside the disconnected idea of ​​free.

Almost twice inflation

Ten years later, where are we? Students have avoided the massive increases of the Charest government, but are they paying less than at the time, given inflation?

Let’s see. For the year beginning September 2021, undergraduates pay $2,725 in tuition for 30 credits, according to data from the Department of Higher Education. These fees exclude other fees (admission, student services, etc.).

Under the 2013 agreement, these rights increase at the same rate as per capita disposable income and not in line with inflation.

The nuance is important. When the Quebec economy stalls, household income stagnates, and so do tuition fees. For example, in 2015, during the so-called era of austerity, the increase in rights was 0.9%.

Conversely, when the economy is going full steam ahead, as it has been for the past five years, household income jumps. This year, the annual fee increase is 3.9%.

All in all, since the maple spring, tuition fees have increased by 26% (2.3% per year on average). This increase is considerably higher than inflation (1.5% per year), measured by the consumer price index.

That’s not all. Students are also charged other fees, called ancillary fees, whether to pay for admission, student services, and more. And in chapter, it is clear that the bill has increased.

This year, these fees are on average $1036 in Quebec, according to Statistics Canada, and they are up 44% since the maple spring (average of 3.7% per year).

Taking everything into account, Quebec students have therefore seen all fees and other costs for their studies increase by $875 over the past 10 years, or 2.7% per year, which is almost twice inflation.

The increase may seem strong, but it remains much less than that which would have occurred with the reform of the Liberal government at the time. Over 10 years, the reform would have resulted in a probable increase in tuition fees of $1,985, or an average annual jump of 6.7%. Adding the other costs, the increase could have reached $2,300. Phew! ¹

Jean Charest’s reaction

In response, former Premier Jean Charest argued, in a text by my colleague Tommy Chouinard published on Sunday, that a piece of the puzzle is missing, namely the significant reduction in the tax credit for tuition fees who accompanied the Marois solution.

By my calculations, taking this factor into account would increase the net increase in all fees and other charges from 2.7% to approximately 4.4% per year. The rise over 10 years would then be around $1020.

First objection: this increase of $1,020 would still be lower than that of the Charest reform ($1,497 maintaining the old tax credit, according to my calculation). The difference between the two is $477, quite close to Jean Charest’s estimate in Sunday’s text ($367).

Second objection: the credit is not paid automatically, it depends on the income and the tax payable by the student and it can be paid to the parents. Third objection: the Marois government has fully reinvested the loss attributable to the tax credit in financial assistance to students, at the very request of the latter. Difficult, in this context, to integrate this factor into the equation.

Be that as it may, despite these increases, students in Quebec still pay much less than elsewhere in Canada, according to Statistics Canada, which includes in its averages fees paid by students residing in another province (less than 10% students in Quebec).

This year, for example, duties and other fees in Quebec ($4,310) are half those in Ontario ($8,969), all inclusive. Only students from Newfoundland and Labrador have a lighter bill ($3932).

The comparison over time allows us to see that Quebec is catching up with the rest of Canada, albeit very slowly. During Maple Spring in 2012, Quebec fees were the equivalent of 42% of those paid in Ontario. Today, we are at 48%. The catch-up is similar with the two other large provinces.

That said, the 2013 Higher Education Summit compact was not just about tuition fees, but also about loans and scholarships. And in this regard, the students have made great gains.

Before the maple spring, the amount of loans and bursaries began to melt as soon as the two parents made more than $23,274 in income, among other things. In short, financial aid was declining rapidly. That threshold jumped to $45,000 in 2015 and is now $55,000, according to data from the Ministry of Higher Education.².

These 2013 enhancements were fully funded with funds recovered from the reduction in the tuition fee tax credit from 20% to 8%. They have the effect of protecting students with low incomes or whose parents have low incomes from any increase in tuition fees, thanks to an equivalent increase in scholarships.

Today, the share paid in grants represents 52.4% of aid to university students, compared to 50.6% in 2011. And the average financial aid for these university students, loans and grants combined, reached $7931 in 2019, compared to $7075 in 2011.

Paradoxically, fewer students receive state aid despite program enhancements (38% of university students compared to 41% in 2011). This decline is explained by the improvement in the financial situation of students or their parents over the past 10 years, among other things, and by the fact that more study part-time while working, which eliminates or restricts access to loans. and scholarships.

This is what makes the rounds of the dollars.

There remains THE big question that arises, in the end: has our system of increasing tuition fees – rather than the freezing or free fees demanded – hindered access to university studies? Not at all, on the contrary.

Since the Maple Spring, full-time baccalaureate enrollment has increased by 8.7% in Quebec, to 144,021 students. The increase is remarkable, given that during the same period, the general population of baccalaureate age (20-29 years old) only increased by 1.8%, to 1.06 million people.³.

All in all, then, even though student fees have risen almost twice as fast as inflation and even though the population is stagnating, the volume of baccalaureate students has increased significantly since the maple spring. Isn’t it surprising?

1. We applied the increases proposed by the Liberal government at the time (until 2018-2019), which we then increased by inflation (between 2018 and 2021). And for all fees, we assumed that the increase actually observed since 2012 would have been the same, in the worst case, which gives a net increase of $2,300 in fees and charges over 10 years.

2. Financial aid is completely extinguished when both parents make over $106,000 today, in the event that the student has no income. In addition, the student income threshold used for the calculation has also increased, from $1,110 in 2011 to $1,494 in 2021.

3. View the data: