McGill Fee Hike Angers Students and Draws Fines

Photo: McGill University

McGill University has drawn the ire of students and the attention of the province.

The Quebec-based University had previously announced it will raise their tuition fee from $1,673 per semester to $29,500 a year for their two-year MBA programme.

While the hike has angered students, the provincial government isn’t thrilled either. Quebec’s minister of education, Line Beauchamp, said he will fine McGill University for hiking tuition without government approval. Although he has previously threatened to take back the funding equivalent of the university’s financial gains from the increase, it’s now reported Beauchamp has asked for a list of all students enrolled to calculate a fine.

Under the old tuition fees, McGill’s MBA students would pay $6700 for their degree. Under the new tuition fees, they would pay closer to $59,000.

Tuition at Canada’s French-speaking Quebec schools are lower than other provinces in Canada, following the provincial government implementing a 15-year tuition freeze — which kept tuition at roughly $1,700 — in 1994.

Quebec’s provincial government has since lifted that freeze, which could add $500.00 (per year) to undergraduate tuition by 2012.

McGill University is home for more than 36,000 students from nearly 150 countries. The school offers about 300 programmes from its two Montreal-based campuses.