Reports in the media today leave many with the impression that a 25-per-cent tuition hike is inevitable in the next couple of years. I am worried that this impression will unduly upset students and their families when, in fact, no such increase is even being contemplated by Ontario universities nor the Provincial government, which has repeatedly said it does not want finances to be a barrier to qualified students having access to post-secondary education.

The 25-per-cent figure comes from an international thinktank called the Educational Policy Institute. The prediction appeared in a recent report released by the institute’s Toronto branch.

It is true that Ontario universities and colleges are dealing with a financial crisis. Everywhere you look, budgets are being cut and institutions are reorganizing. At U of G, a number of changes have been proposed with the overarching goal of preserving quality and programs that are strengths of the institution and differentiate Guelph from other universities.
These include a six-month hiring freeze while we align our strategies with the fiscal realities, postponing or suspending major building projects that are not already in progress, reducing departmental discretionary expenditures, and considering ways to restructure practices to accommodate the personnel losses due to the voluntary early retirements/resignations. Details can be found on our website.
The months ahead will be difficult and challenging, but I know that by working together we will find creative solutions for the problems we face. And we need to do that without building insurmountable financial barriers for our students and potential students and their families.
The Ontario government has approved a maximum university tuition increase of five per cent – not 25 per cent – for September 2009. I do not believe the University of Guelph can avoid going to the maximum increase this year, but what happens after that will depend of government, universities and our communities working together to maintain quality and keep accessibility as an uncompromising principle.