“Exceptional” revision of the increase in tuition fees

Quebec students will face a 2.6% increase in their tuition fees in 2022-2023, due to an “exceptional” adjustment proposed by the Minister of Higher Education, Danielle McCann.

The elected CAQ confirmed the news a few minutes after the filing of Eric Girard’s fourth budget. The Minister of Finance had indicated earlier in the day that the rise in the cost of living would not substantially affect tuition fees during the coming year. “I can tell you today that it will not be out of the ordinary indexations,” he said before the budget closed in Quebec City.

The “exceptional” indexation of tuition fees proposed by Minister McCann is intended to prevent the usual calculation, based on disposable household income, from leading to an excessive increase in the costs imposed on students. The elected official does not have the executive power to adopt the annual indexation rate, but its adoption by the Advisory Committee on financial accessibility to studies is only a formality.

With Tuesday’s adjustments, “base tuition would be […] of $93.23 per credit, or the equivalent of $2,796.90 for a full-time student enrolled in 30 credits”.

Fashionable free?

Finance Minister Eric Girard tabled his fourth fiscal year on Tuesday just as thousands of students were on strike to put free education back on the agenda, a decade to the day after the major anti-raise protest in the March 22, 2012 in Montreal. In his budget plan, the elected Caquiste opens the floodgates of the Ministry of Higher Education, which benefits in Tuesday’s budget from a 13% increase in spending.

“Access to higher education is extremely important. And in this sense, I understand their requests, ”said Mr. Girard on Tuesday, when questioned on the renewed requests of the heirs of the student spring. “The scholarships almost offset the tuition fees,” he said.

The Legault government has included 1.2 billion for CEGEPs and universities in the budget it tabled on Tuesday. These sums will be used in particular to broaden access to student financial assistance. Girard’s fourth budget provides $342 million in particular to increase the offer of loans and bursaries to slightly better-off families. Quebec also agrees to repay the interest on student loans for the coming year.

The free model demanded by student associations is “hardly viable” in Quebec, the Minister of Finance commented on Tuesday. “If we want to have successful universities, they need funding. Students have a part to play in this,” he said.

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