Postsecondary Tuition Fees
March 16, 2010
Mrs. Forsyth: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 2006 the government committed to implementing a tuition fee calculation policy that capped tuition increases at the rate of inflation for a 10-year period. In November 2009 the minister announced that postsecondary institutions could submit proposals requesting tuition increases for professional faculties. This goes against the very commitment this government made to ease the financial burden on students. My questions are to the Premier. Why did your government’s promise to postsecondary students by removing the tuition fee increase policy for legislation . . .
Mr. Horner: Mr. Speaker, if I could correct the preamble, this government did not request proposals from the postsecondaries. The postsecondaries indicated to us that there was a problem with some of their tuition levels in 2004, when we froze tuition rates. All we did was indicate to them that we would entertain receiving those proposals. We have done that. We’ve had meetings with the students. Some of the institutions have had numerous meetings with the students. We’re going to continue to look at those proposals as they come forward.
The Speaker: The hon. member.
Mrs. Forsyth: Thank you. Given that postsecondary tuition in Alberta is already the third highest in Canada, will the government stay true to their word and support increases based on the consumer price index per year only?
Mr. Horner: Mr. Speaker, I’ve been very clear in my response to the CPI cap as being protected. However, if there were issues around errors that were made under that program back in 2004, I think it’s prudent for the taxpayer and for the students to be able to look at that so that we can protect the CPI cap going forward.
The Speaker: The hon. member.
Mrs. Forsyth: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given that students build plans around policy – they are able to work, save, and get financial support based on government policy – what is the point in passing this policy if you’re going to ignore the rules that you’ve already put in place?
Mr. Horner: Well, Mr. Speaker, it would be advantageous if the hon. member would listen to the answers rather than just go back to the script of the question. This is exactly what I’ve said. We are honouring the policy of the CPI. However, in order to ensure that that CPI is there for the rest of the period of time, we want to make sure that we correct the errors in it so that we don’t have to go back and revisit it. We’ve said very clearly to the postsecondaries: this is a one-time adjustment only. We’re not talking about changing across the board. We’re not talking about any of those other things, simply correcting an error, which I believe this hon. member would agree is a good thing to do.
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