Education think tank calls for tuition hike

On the heels of the release of the 2008 Survey on Canadian Attitudes toward Learning, which suggests that Canadians are concerned about the existing costs of post-secondary education, the Educational Policy Institute has released a report advocating that provincial governments allow post-secondary institutions to increase tuition further in order to offset declining revenues. From The Toronto Star:

Dramatic tuition hikes must be part of a recession survival plan for Canada’s ivory tower, warns an education think tank.

Colleges and universities must consider charging more, despite a middle-class backlash, if they hope to avoid diluting the quality of education during the economic crisis, says the report by the non-profit Educational Policy Institute.

The report predicts fee hikes of up to 25 per cent in the next couple of years – in line with increases during the last recession – which would generate $1 billion to $2 billion for recession-hit campuses.

The full text of the EPI report can be downloaded here in .pdf format.