The Ontario government is extending the current one-year tuition freeze for colleges and universities by an additional year.
“Students and their families make significant sacrifices to attend college and university,” said Ross Romano, Minister of Colleges and Universities. “The financial uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic further underscores the need to keep college and university programs affordable."
The one-year tuition freeze follows the 10 per cent reduction in tuition in 2019-20, and one-year tuition freeze in 2020-21. These reductions represent the first of their kind in Ontario’s history.
The government claims the reduction and tuition freeze has provided students with relief of approximately $450 million annually when compared to tuition costs in 2018-19.
Average university tuition in Ontario has increased significantly since the mid-1990s. Prior to the 2019-20 tuition reduction, Ontario university tuition rates were the highest in any Canadian province. Ontario has now dropped to the third highest in Canada for undergraduate students and the second-highest for graduate students.
Students enrolled in a university undergraduate arts and science degree will pay an average of $660 less in tuition than if the tuition reduction and freeze policy had not been put in place.
