Provincial government sets official deadline for tuition decrease
Hufsa Tahir
Staff Writer
The Liberal provincial government has announced they will fulfill their promise for a tuition fee break for post-secondary students January 2012.
At a visit to Don Mills Collegiate Institute in Toronto November 17, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced Ontario’s undergraduate and college students will receive a tuition grant to reduce fees by 30 per cent. It is to be applied at the start of the upcoming winter semester.
The grant applies to those students whose annual family income is below $160,000.
“To build a strong economy, we need all young Ontarians at their best,” said Glen Murray, minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities, on the Office of the Premier website. “That’s why we’re committed to helping our youth achieve success in school, go on to post-secondary education, and get a good job.”
Lieutenant-Governor David Onley said in the Speech from the Throne November 22 that the initiative was “To keep tuition affordable and within the reach of all Ontarians,” and that 70 per cent of all new jobs in the global economy would require its employees to have a post-secondary education.
“Your government is creating 60,000 new spaces in our colleges and universities to ensure that every qualified Ontario student who wants to go to college or university can do so,” he added.
And yet, the tuition break will come at a cost of $201 million to Ontario next year. Progressive Conservative MPP Vic Fedeli wonders how the province will manage to pay for this.
“It is important to see how it is going to be paid for to be able to base our judgment [of the initiative],” Fedeli says.
As part of McGuinty’s plan, three new sites will also be selected for undergraduate campuses to allow increased accommodation of students.
With files from Toronto Star
