Sask Party Tuition Math

By Erin Weir 
Progressive Economics Forum

October 12th, 2011

In Saskatchewan’s provincial election campaign, the incumbent Saskatchewan Party is promising a scholarship of up to $500 per year for new high-school graduates who undertake post-secondary studies.

It claims that this scholarship is worth “THREE TIMES” the annual increase in university tuition fees, which has averaged $146.50 over the past four years.

What the Sask Party seems to miss is that these annual tuition increases have been cumulative. So, a full-time undergraduate student is now paying annual tuition $586 higher than four years ago.

When the Sask Party took office in 2007, the average full-time undergraduate student in the province paid annual tuition fees of $5,015.

Under another Sask Party government, new high-school graduates who enter full-time university studies would face average tuition of $5,601 per year plus further tuition increases minus a provincial scholarship of up to $500 per year.

In other words, even those students eligible for the proposed scholarship will pay more than they would have under the previous NDP government’s tuition freeze.