MANITOBA--Student predictions regarding two years of tuition fee increases have been affirmed by today's Statistics Canada report announcing that Manitoba has the second-highest increase in tuition fees across Canada for the second year in a row.

"The provincial government declared its leadership in post-secondary affordability, yet students in Manitoba are now facing the second-highest tuition fee increases in the country," states Alanna Makinson, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students - Manitoba. "Where is that leadership now?"

When the provincial government ended their tuition fee freeze policy in 2008, supporters of tuition fee increases argued that the regulated increases would be in line with trends across the country. Today's Statistics Canada report has decisively vindicated proponents of accessible post-secondary education, who continue to believe that Manitoba's "Affordability Advantage" is eroding. Students have already seen combined tuition increases of nearly 10% over two years, far faster than the rate of inflation.

"Continued tuition fee increases are forcing more and more students to absorb even greater debt loads, to consider going to school elsewhere, or to delay or suspend their studies," states Heather Laube, President of the University of Manitoba Students' Union. "The provincial government's inadequate funding increases to our post-secondary institutions are increasingly shifting the costs of education onto the backs of students and their working families. This is a guaranteed way to drag out the effects of the recession for an entire generation of students."

The Statistics Canada report also notes that Dentistry and MBA programs have the highest average fees for undergraduate and graduate students respectively. The provincial government's recent decision to allow tuition fee increases of 40% in Dentistry and 50% in MBA by September 2011 contributes to this problem.

The Canadian Federation of Students – Manitoba unites over 42, 000 students across Manitoba, representing full and part-time students.