HALIFAX--Just weeks away from the beginning of the new school year, Nova Scotia's universities are bracing for a significant drop in enrolment.

"With the highest fees in the country, it is no surprise that students are leaving Nova Scotia," said Jake Byrne, Nova Scotia National Executive Representative for the Canadian Federation of Students. "By not reducing tuition fees and increasing funding for financial aid, the government is failing students."

Despite the current tuition fee freeze, average undergraduate tuition and compulsory fees for Nova Scotia students are almost $6,500. Nova Scotia is one of only two provinces that charges out-of-province students higher fees.

In response to declining enrolment in their province, the government of Newfoundland and Labrador has implemented tuition fee freezes and reductions since 1999.

A report by the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission found that while university enrolment continues to decline across the Maritimes, enrolment of Maritimes students at Newfoundland's Memorial University has increased 10-fold between 1999 and 2007. Currently, average tuition fees in Newfoundland and Labrador are less than half of those in Nova Scotia.

"Advertising on Twitter and Facebook isn't going to get students in the door if they can't afford to pay their fees," said Byrne. "It's about time our government took a page from Newfoundland's play book and made post-secondary education accessible in this province."

Founded in 1981, the Canadian Federation of Students is Canada's largest student organisation, uniting more that one-half million students from ten provinces.