The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
University costs rose an average of 4.5% across Canada this year, nearly double the rise in inflation. Such is the news reported by one of Canada's leading Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) providers. According to industry experts, while the moderate increases are manageable for students currently enrolled in post-secondary schools, continuing increases mean the long-range costs could render a university or college education inaccessible to many Canadians. "It used to be that a summer job would take care of tuition fees for the year, but parents need to realize that things have changed drastically," says Brian Munholland, President, USC Education Savings Plans Inc. (USCI), publishers of the annual Guide to University Costs in Canada. "Paying for post-secondary education has become a burden on par with a mortgage. Students who are able to manage the costs through loans are ending up saddled with crippling debts that can take decades to pay off. The only sure way to avoid the struggle is to start planning early." This year's Guide tracks 50 universities, the highest number of participants since its inception in 1975. This represents 85% of all full-time undergraduate students attending universities across Canada. New research shows that by the year 2022, it could cost approximately $135,000 to put a child born today through a four-year undergraduate program with residence. Nova Scotia continues to rank highest for university costs in Canada, followed by New Brunswick and Ontario. Newfoundland was the least expensive. USCI has also worked with governments across Canada to raise awareness about saving options. In its March budget, the government of Canada announced changes to the Canada Education Savings Grant. It also introduced the Canada Learning Bond. "The provinces are also getting in on the action, like the two-year tuition freeze in Ontario and Alberta's introduction of their Centennial Education Savings Grant (ACES)," says Munholland. USCI, with over 1,200 licensed representatives has been distributing RESPs for almost 40 years and administers over $1.6 billion for over 240,000 Canadian families.8/20/2004
