Alberta government extends post-secondary tuition freeze

The tuition freeze for post-secondary students in Albertawill continue for the 2017-18 academic year, whilethe government conducts a tuition review.

An estimated 250,000 full- and part-time students and apprentices will save roughly $16 million a year through the freeze ontuition and fees, the government said on Wednesday.

"This review will ensure a long-term solution to keep education accessible and affordable for Albertans," Advanced EducationMinisterMarlin Schmidt said.

For biological science student HachemEl-Sayed, the news comesas a relief. He works 40 hours a week at Walmart and has a full course load. He said paying for the basics of an education is a real struggle.

"I got three books, twoof them were used," he said. "Ipaid $610,and that's normal.Sometimes, $610 is the difference between 'do you want that book or do you want to pay rent?' "

University of Alberta provost Steven Dew said a modest one-per-cent tuition increase will mean $2.7 million less in funding coming in. He said the university ishopeful the provincial government will make up the shortfall.

"Otherwise we will have tore-examine our budget in a way thatdoes not impact students much," said Dew. "But there will inevitably be an impact as we would have to cut our budget."

The provincial government has said post-secondary institutions can count on stable funding going forward, and has signaled that they won't see any surprises in the budget.

However Wildroseadvanced education critic Wes Taylorsaid in a news release the NDP government is being "short-sighted"in its approach to post-secondary education costs.

Taylor said "indexing post secondary tuition and fee increases to the rate of inflation is the very best way to ensure tuition remains affordable for students and to protect the viability of Alberta's world-class education institutions."

Taylor added the tuition freeze was another example of the NDP taking "risky and ideological approaches to issues that need strong solutions."

The reviewwill cover topics such as mandatory non-instructional fees, international student tuition,student aid and long-term planning for post-secondary costs.

Several student organizations welcomed the announcement.

Students and others can provide feedback attuitionreview.alberta.ca.

The government will also meet with institutions and student groups for feedback.