Quebec universities are underfunded by $620 million compared to other Canadian institutions, according to the confederation of Quebec university principals and rectors. The group wants to see tuition rise by $1,500 from $2,168 to $3,680, over three years beginning 2012. That’s about a 70 per cent increase. “This underfunding, which has gone on for numerous years, puts in peril the quality of education and teaching conditions, the intensity and efficiency of university research as well as the productivity and competitiveness of Quebec society,” the president of the group said. When accounting for inflation, the group noted, tuition is less expensive today than in 1968. The federation of Quebec university students called the idea regressive and said it would ensure that only the wealthy would have access to university.