Education is a Right
In 2021, the government of Newfoundland and Labrador launched a blatant attack on education in Newfoundland and Labrador by ending the 22-year-long tuition freeze at Memorial University and the College of the North Atlantic, increasing tuition fees to more than double previous rates.
The Education is a Right Campaign was developed in response to a blatant attack on education in Newfoundland and Labrador that resulted in the end of a 22-year-long tuition freeze for NL students and exorbitant funding cuts to Post-Secondary Education. The end of the tuition freeze in 2022 resulted in a 150% increase in tuition for NL students, a 104% increase for Canadian students, and a 97% increase for international students.
For the past decade, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has been backing away from its commitment to making education in NL the most accessible in the country by way of funding cuts. With the planned phasing-out of the Tuition Offset Grant by 2027, the provincial government is abandoning students - at Memorial University, there has been an over 20% drop in first-year undergraduate enrolment since the freeze was lifted.
According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a decrease in funding coupled with the drastic increases in tuition will result in students paying a third of the province’s deficit.
Students are the present and future of Newfoundland and Labrador. We need our government to come up with bold solutions to bring and keep students in the province that are built upon justice:
- Immediately increase funding to Memorial University and the College of the North Atlantic
- Investigate and implement a tuition-free post-secondary model for all students who wish to study in Newfoundland and Labrador.
- Implement comprehensive support packages for students that allow students to cover the cost of living and education-related expenses.