Edmonton – Alberta postsecondary students saw this coming. The Stelmach administration is hiking tuition fees even though a so-called “tuition cap” is in place.

Students are just the latest in a long string of victims left in the wake of the Stelmach administration’s failure to properly manage the public purse.

Alberta postsecondary institutions recently saw a freeze to all grants and cuts in other vital areas. Now these institutions have been forced by Tory cutbacks to find additional cash.

“This all starts and ends with the Stelmach administration,” says Alberta Liberal Advanced Education critic Harry Chase. “For the past several years, the Stelmach administration was encouraging these institutions to expand and grow. Now the funding has abruptly stopped, leaving them with extra costs and no new money.”

Back in 2006 this administration passed Bill 40, committing to a tuition cap on all course fees, while pledging tuition costs would follow the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The recent CPI stands at about 1.5 percent. For a U of A pharmacy student that would mean an increase of close to $78. But the proposed maximum tuition rates lead to increases of close to $3400. And at the University of Calgary, commerce students will now pay an additional $2040, whereas a CPI-based increase would have been, again, only around $78.

Chase adds, “Why is it so difficult to do what was promised? With these proposed increases, many of these young people will not be able to afford postsecondary education. Given the fact that $14 billion remains in the sustainability fund, the Stelmach administration’s choice to underfund professional programs will not only affect students, but the long term health and economic stability of Albertans.”

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