Want to become a blue-chip executive? It will cost you.
According to Statistics Canada, expensive master of business administration (MBA) programs contributed to larger tuition fee increases for graduate students across the country this year.
In a report released Thursday, the agency said graduate students faced larger tuition fee increases in 2010-2011 than their undergraduate counterparts.
On average, graduate students paid 6.6% more this year, or a total of $5,182, than they did in 2009-2010.
That is compared with a 4% increase to $5,138 in tuition fees this year for undergraduate students across the country
Leading the way among the most expensive graduate programs was the executive MBA program with an average price tag of $28,773 this year compared with $27,963 last year. Tuition fees for a regular MBA increased 7.1% on average across Canada this year to $21,118.
The country also saw the cost of graduate dentistry programs climb 34.8% this year to $4,337, while the average cost of health, parks, recreation and fitness graduate programs jumped 28.5% to $6,976 when compared with last year.
“Canada is on the verge of bankrupting a generation,” said David Molenhuis, national chairperson for the Canadian Federation of Students, in reaction to the news. “A lack of government investment has left students and their families footing the bill for Canada’s universities.”
The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations agreed, and said the recession has left many students and families with few sources to pay for post-secondary education.
Despite the 4% and 6.6% jump in undergraduate and graduate tuition fees respectively, students in B.C. saw only a 2% increase this year in the average cost of both undergraduate and graduate programs.
While nearly all of Canada showed an increase in additional compulsory fees such as student health services and athletics, the country’s western most province showed a 12% decrease in compulsory fees.