Quebec tuition fees: English universities present new offer to Legault
Posted December 9, 2023 5:00 pm.
Quebec’s English-speaking universities have made a so-called “enhanced” proposal to the François Legault government concerning tuition fee increases for students from other Canadian provinces and abroad.
The province announced Oct. 13 that Canadian students who begin their studies next fall will pay the equivalent of what their schooling costs the government – $17,000 per year, instead of the current $9,000.
International students would have to pay $20,000 in tuition fees.
On Nov. 6, Bishop’s, Concordia, and McGill universities presented the CAQ government with a new offer that proposes increases in tuition fees based on different areas of study. They claim not to have received any concrete feedback from the government on that offer.
The proposal suggests that students in arts, sciences, education, nursing, psychology and agriculture – which represents 79 per cent of students outside Quebec – pay $9,000 in tuition fees.
WATCH: Montreal students protest Quebec’s tuition hikes
During a press conference Saturday morning, Fabrice Labeau, senior associate vice-principal at McGill University, indicated that the fees for these programs in other provinces amounted to approximately $6,000 per year.
In the proposal from English universities, students in engineering, computer science, and administration would have to pay $14,000. This group represents 16 per cent of Canadian students outside Quebec at the universities in question. For comparison, students at the universities of Toronto and British Columbia must pay $14,500 and almost $8,000, respectively.
The highest level – students in medicine, dentistry, law and pharmacy – would pay $20,000, well below the fees in other provinces, according to Labeau. Those students represent five per cent of their Canadian clientele outside Quebec, Labeau says.
McGill, Concordia and Bisop’s universities maintain their proposal is a “compromise aimed at achieving the objectives of promoting and protecting the French language.”
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
