On the heels of the release of the 2008 Survey on Canadian Attitudes toward Learning, which suggests that Canadians are concerned about the existing costs of post-secondary education, the Educational Policy Institute has released a report advocating that provincial governments allow post-secondary institutions to increase tuition further in order to offset declining revenues. From The Toronto Star:
Dramatic tuition hikes must be part of a recession survival plan for Canada’s ivory tower, warns an education think tank.
Colleges and universities must consider charging more, despite a middle-class backlash, if they hope to avoid diluting the quality of education during the economic crisis, says the report by the non-profit Educational Policy Institute.
The report predicts fee hikes of up to 25 per cent in the next couple of years – in line with increases during the last recession – which would generate $1 billion to $2 billion for recession-hit campuses.
The full text of the EPI report can be downloaded here in .pdf format.