Tuition fees are rising, while government funding falls—let’s change that.
The cost of obtaining an education in BC is being unfairly downloaded onto students and their families.
Students in BC can no longer be expected to pay the price for years of inconsistent funding.
The Problem:
For more than two decades, the proportion of funding the BC government provides post-secondary institutions has declined, while tuition fees have continued to increase.
In 2000, the provincial government provided 68% of the total operating revenue to public post-secondary institutions in British Columbia and now only provides 40% of the total operating revenue.
In order to balance their budgets, institutions rely more heavily on tuition fee increases to make up for funding shortfalls than they have in past decades.
The Impact:
Domestic student fees
Tuition fees for domestic students have increased by 32% for undergraduates and 78% for graduate students since 2006.
As of 2022, average undergraduate tuition fees cost students more than $6,250 annually; in 2001, before tuition fee increases were deregulated, undergraduate fees were only $2,527 annually.
Today, domestic fee increases are limited by the Tuition Fee Limit Policy and can only increase by 2% annually - this is a hard earned victory of the student movement.
International student fees
Government underfunding has also dramatically impacted international student tuition fees – which are not regulated by the Tuition Fee Limit policy.
In BC, international students paid the same amount as domestic students until 1985. But in 2001, when tuition fees in the province were deregulated, international student tuition fees began to skyrocket. Before that time, international students’ fees were 266% higher than domestic students’ fees, and since then, international fees have gone up 182% more. As of 2022, international students pay 528% more than domestic students.
The Solution:
The BC government must act now by:
freezing and progressively reducing tuition fees to lower the costs of post-secondary education.
investing $500 million, annually, to the province’s public post-secondary institutes’ operational funding.
A timeline of tuition fee increases and policy changes in BC
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In 2001, before tuition fees were deregulated, average undergraduate fees were only $2,527 annually.
The provincial government deregulated tuition fees - meaning they could increase by any amount year to year.
Tuition fees rose steadily in the aftermath, increasing 26% in 2002, 29% in 2003, and 16% in 2004..
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Through strong student advocacy, the then government introduced the Tuition Fee Limit policy to stop these increases, restricting domestic fees to a 2% increase each year
Unfortunately when the policy was put in place, it was not accompanied by a reversal of the deregulated tuition fees nor an increase in funding to make up the difference.
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With the Tuition Fee Limit Policy in place, the government allowed institutions to use international students, whose fees were not regulated, as a solution to fund our post-secondary system.
For years, institutions have relied on international student fees to make up for budget shortfalls due to a lack of government funding.
International student tuition fees remain unregulated and can increase by any amount at any time.
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Before the deregulation in 2001, average undergraduate fees were $2,527, and by the time the Tuition Fee Limit policy came into place, fees were $4,753 - that’s an 88% increase in just 3 years.
As of 2022, average undergraduate fees cost $6256 annually.
International students are paying 528% more than domestic students for the same education.