By Dan Singleton
MVP Staff
The Notley government announced last week that it is freezing post-secondary tuitions through the 2017-18 academic year.
Dr. Jason Dewling is vice-president of academic and research at Olds College.
“This is a commitment the NDP made to students during the last election and it is consistent with what they have been practising,” Dewling told the Gazette.
“They have been honouring their election promises so I won't suggest it was a huge surprise to us. It is good for students and it certainly makes post-secondary affordable for them. We are pleased for our students.”
Asked if the freeze will have an impact on college operations, he said, “The last two years they froze tuition they have actually added to our base (funding) to compensate for that.
“They haven't told us if they are going to do that this year or not, so whether it will have a financial impact or not is yet to be determined.
“They are going to tell us in the spring during the budgeting process.”
Sixteen per cent of the college's total budget is tuition, “so it's not a major part of our revenue. About 50 per cent of funding comes from other government sources and about 34 per cent are revenues that come in from all the other business we do on campus.
“So it would be two per cent of that sixteen per cent ($160,000) would be the impact based on the last couple of years. They have been using about a two per cent cost of living adjustment.”
Freezing tuitions will save 250,000 full-time and part-time students and apprentices about $16 million provincewide, says Minister of Advanced Education Martin Schmidt.
“We know that access to high-quality education and training is the cornerstone of lifelong access in a changing economy,” said Schmidt.
“Our students and post-secondary stakeholders are in the best position to help shape what Alberta needs for the future. This review will ensure long-term solutions to keep education accessible and affordable for Albertans.”
Wildrose advanced education critic Wes Taylor called the ongoing freeze “short-sighted.”
“Wildrose maintain that indexing post-secondary tuition and fee increase 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,” said Taylor. “This is the absolute wrong decision for Alberta students.”
