Access Denied
The affordability of post-secondary education in
Canada, 1857 to 2002
M ost Canadians believe that all
academically qualified students should
have the opportunity to earn a university or
college degree. Admission to university and
college should be based on ability and talent, not
wealth.
Today, however, due to record high tuition
and other fees, more and more students who are
interested in and capable of attending a university
or college are unable to do so. Following a
decade of steep increases in tuition fees and slow
wage growth, modest- and middle-income
households are struggling to finance the costs of
higher education.
In this report, we show how the ability of
average households in Canada to pay for a post-
secondary education has been compromised in
recent years. We compare fees charged students
today with those charged in previous decades to
show that the cost of tuition is less affordable
today than at any time in the post-war period and
is approaching an all-time historic high. Canada’s
universities in particular are in danger of
returning to their elitist roots as costs continue to
spiral out of control.
The main findings of the report include:
• since 1857, the most rapid and consistent
rise in tuition fees took place in the
1990s;
• tuition and incidental fees, adjusted for
inflation, at a typical university in Canada
are at their highest recorded levels — and
more than six times what they were in
1914;
• fees for dentistry, medicine and law have
risen the most sharply in recent years, far
outpacing the growth in inflation and
wages;
• it takes more hours of work to pay for
today’s tuition fees than at any point in
the post-war period — and more than
double that required in 1920; and
• by almost every measure, university
education is less affordable for middle-
income households today than at any
other time in the past sixty years.
Overall, the data presented in this report paint
a bleak picture about the ability of modest and
middle-income households to pay for a post-
secondary education. Caught between a rapid
increase in tuition fees, dwindling government
support and stagnant growth in incomes, tens of
thousands of qualified Canadians from modest-
and middle-income families are in danger of
being denied access to a university or college
education. Without immediate action, the
resulting loss in human talent and potential will
have serious consequences for the country’s
future social and economic development.
Trends in tuition fees, 1972 to 2002
Since 1972, Statistics Canada has collected
university tuition fee data on a national basis.
These figures, as presented in Table 1, provide a
broad overview of trends over the past 30 years.
As illustrated, fees, when measured in current
dollars, have increased substantially over this
CAUT Education Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 —– 1
period. The cost of a one-year undergraduate arts
program jumped from $535 in 1972 to $3,738 in
2002, a nearly seven-fold increase. Fees rose even
more substantially in professional programs such
as dentistry (+1,361%), law (+836.6%) and
medicine (+525.8%).
The largest increases in professional fees
occurred over the 1992 to 2002 period. Prior to
this, fees in all programs increased at close to the
same rate, with the lone exception of engineering
which experienced slower increases in the 1972-
82 period. In the 1990s, however, some provinces
uncapped and “deregulated” professional school
fees, allowing institutions to raise costs higher
than the limits placed on undergraduate programs.
The result has been a widening gap in the costs of
these professional programs, raising concerns
about the ability of students from modest and
middle-income households to attend professional
schools (see Kwong et. al. 2002).
The increase in fees over this period must also
be considered against changes in the Consumer
Price Index. As shown in Table 2, when adjusted
for inflation, the real rate of tuition fee increases
was steepest in the 1990s. Between 1972 and
1982, average undergraduate arts tuition declined
by over 35%. As noted above, during this period
fees rose in current dollars, but they increased well
below the rate of inflation — which often reached
double-digit levels in this decade characterized by
“stagflation.”
Beginning in the 1980s, however, fees grew
faster than inflation, pushing the real cost of arts
tuition up over 40% between 1982 and 1992.
Despite this increase, real fees in 1992 were still
9% below the level recorded in 1972. Between
1992 and 2002, fees continued to accelerate far
faster than the rate of inflation, posting a 67%
increase in inflation-adjusted dollars.
Again, the rise in real tuition fees is even more
pronounced in professional programs. Tuition for
dentistry programs were about 8% lower in 1992
than in 1972, but jumped by a whopping 248% in
the past decade. Law school and medical school
fees skyrocketed 124% and 201% respectively in
the same period.
The bigger picture: tuition fees, 1857 to 2002
Reliable aggregate tuition fee data for the
period prior to 1972 do not exist, leaving the
longer-term picture of changes in tuition fees more
difficult to assess. Nevertheless, it is possible to
glean some sense of the broader historical trends
by examining changes in fees at one typical
institution. For this study, we consulted archival

Table 1: Average Tuition Fees1 (current dollars)

1972 1982 1992 2002 % change % change % change
$ $ $ $ 72-82 82-92 92-02

Arts 535 873 1,878 3,738 63.2 115.1 99.0

Dentistry 664 1,098 2,343 9,703 65.4 113.4 314.1
Law 536 881 1,882 5,020 64.4 113.6 166.7
Medicine 674 1,089 2,248 8,062 61.6 106.4 258.6
Engineering 620 918 1,948 3,880 48.1 112.2 99.2
1
Using the most current enrolment data available, average tuition fees have been weighted by the number of
students. Fees at both public and private institutions have been included in the calculations.
Source: Calculations based on Statistics Canada.

2 —– CAUT Education Review, Vol. 4, No. 1

Table 2: Average Tuition Fees1 (constant 2000 $)
1972 1982 1992 2002 % change % change % change
$ $ $ $ 72-82 82-92 92-02

Arts 2,336 1,517 2,131 3,561 -35.1 40.5 67.1

Dentistry 2,888 1,909 2,659 9,245 -33.9 39.3 247.7
Law 2,331 1,531 2,136 4,783 -34.3 39.5 123.9
Medicine 2,931 1,812 2,551 7,681 -38.2 40.8 201.1
Engineering 2,697 1,595 2,211 3,697 -40.9 38.6 67.2
1
Using the most current enrolment data available, average tuition fees have been weighted by the number of stu-
dents. Fees at both public and private institutions have been included in the calculations.
Source: Calculations based on Statistics Canada.

university records and collected information on
tuition and incidental fees charged for a first-year
undergraduate arts program at University College
of the University of Toronto from 1857 to the
present.
The records reveal that from 1857 to 1859 no
fees were charged by University College. In the
21-year period between 1860 and 1881, fees
remained stable at $10, a remarkable period of
stability that is in sharp contrast with the
continuous and substantial increases recorded in
recent years (see Figure 1). Tuition and incidental
fees then rose slowly and incrementally in the
decades that followed, to $22 between 1882 and
1892, to $32 in the period from 1894 to 1896, and
to $52 from 1897 to 1908. Surprisingly, fees
declined to $48 between 1909 and 1913 and
remained under $100 until 1925. Fees rose to
$200 in 1940, $237 in 1950, $423 in 1960, $537
in 1970, and $961 in 1980. As illustrated, the
significant increases have occurred in the past
two decades with fees skyrocketing from $1,936
in 1990 to $4,875 in 2002 — an increase of
nearly 152%.
Even when adjusted for inflation, fees charged
students at University College today are by far at
their highest levels this century. Figure 2 tracks
the real changes in fees between 1914 and 2002

Figure 1: University College Tuition and Incidental

Undergraduate Fees, 1860-2002 (current dollars)
4975
4670
5000
4000
3000
1906
$

2000
961
1000 466 533
10 10 10 22 52 48 62 107 199 237
0
60

70

80

90

00

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

00

02
18

18

18

18

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

20

20

CAUT Education Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 —– 3

(accurate and comparable consumer price index
figures are unavailable for the period prior to
1914). As shown, inflation-adjusted fees declined
slightly between 1914 and 1922, bottoming out in
1921 at $421 when measured in 1992 dollars. Fees
then rose steadily over the next two decades
peaking at $2,052 in 1942 before falling again
over the next ten years. Fees then rose to a new
peak of $2,710 in 1964 and remained fairly stable
until the mid-1970s when the real costs declined to
a low of $1,756 in 1979. Since the early 1990s,
fees have risen at their steepest pace on record and
have now reached an all-time high. When
measured in constant dollars, tuition fees today are
more than six times what they were in 1914.
Measuring affordability
The rapid rise in tuition fees outlined above
clearly raises questions about the affordability of
post-secondary education. However, just because
fees are increasing does not necessarily mean that
accessibility is being compromised. If average
household incomes and wages are rising faster
than tuition fee increases, then it is arguable that
access is being enhanced.
Figure 2: University College tuition and incidental fees, 1942-
2002 (constant 1992$)
4500
constant 1992$
3500
2500
1500
500
1914 1922 1932 1942
4 —– CAUT Education Review, Vol. 4, No. 1
One way to assess whether tuition fees are
more or less affordable over time is to compare
tuition costs with the earning ability of a middle-
class household. Figure 3 expresses tuition fees for
various programs in terms of the number of hours
needed to work based on the average hourly
manufacturing wage between 1972 and 2002. As
shown, the average manufacturing hours of work
required fell between 1972 and 1980, and
remained relatively stable over the next ten years.
Beginning in 1990, however, there was a sharp
increase in hours of work needed to cover the cost
of tuition in all programs. In 1990, it would have
required just over 102 hours of work to pay for
one year of average undergraduate arts tuition. By
2002, that figure jumped to 197 hours.
The increase was even more dramatic for
professional programs. Law school tuition fees
could be paid with 100 hours of manufacturing
work in 1990, but by 2002 a total of 265 hours is
needed. In 1990, one year of tuition in a dentistry
program would have required 124 hours of work,
compared to 512 hours in 2002. For medical
school, fees were equal to 118 hours of
manufacturing work in 1990 and 425 hours in
2002.
1952 1962 1972 1982 1992 2002
 Figure 3: Average annual tuition in terms of manufacturing
wage hours, 1972-2002
550

500

450
tuition, manufacturing hours

400
Dentistry
350 Law
300 Medicine
Arts
250
Engineering
200

150

100

50
72

74

76

78

80

82

84

86

88

90

92

94

96

98

00

02
19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

20

20
Source: Calculations based on Statistics Canada.

To provide a more long-term picture of the was a steep increase that then reversed during the
affordability of tuition fees, and following the immediate post-war period until the most recent
work of Duffin (2001), we calculated the cost of years. Current fees paid by students are at their
fees charged by University College from 1870 to second highest level on record, surpassed only by
2002 in relation to the average hourly wage of a the fees charged in 1940.
carpenter.1 The trade of carpentry is suitable for In 1870, it would require about 111 hours of
such an analysis because reasonably reliable carpenter labour, at 9 cents an hour, to pay the
figures on carpenters’ wages are available for this $10 tuition fee charged that year. Today, despite
period. It is also a middle-class trade that the fact that the average hourly wage of a
flourished in the last century and is still important carpenter has increased to $27, it would take
today. nearly 180 hours of labour to pay the cost of
In Figure 4, tuition fees levied at University tuition, well below the low point of just 69 hours
College are expressed in terms of the number of required in 1920. In other words, university
hours of carpenter labour required to pay for one tuition fees are less affordable for typical middle-
year of fees. The results are striking. By this income earners today than at any other time since
measure, tuition fees recorded an increase from 1940 and are approaching an all-time historic
1870 to about 1905, before falling to reach their high.
low point in 1920. Between 1920 and 1940, there

CAUT Education Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 —– 5

 Figure 4: University College tuition, 1870-2002, in terms of
"carpenter hours"
Tuition, carpenter hours
200
150
100
50
1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2002
Conclusion
An historical analysis of tuition fees raises
troubling questions about the ability of low- and
middle-income Canadians to access a post-
secondary education today. While the decision to
pursue a university or college education is related
to several inter-related factors, such as academic
preparedness and the educational attainment of
parents, financial ability is ultimately the largest
and most difficult barrier to overcome. As a recent
report by the U.S. government’s Advisory
Committee on Student Financial Assistance (2002)
concluded:
…[T]here is no evidence that [the
educational attainment of parents] has an
effect on college enrolment independent of
family income and financial aid for college-
qualified high school students. In fact, if
financial aid is adequate, low-income high
school graduates will enrol in a four-year
college at extremely high rates, regardless
of parents’ education.
By all measures, average tuition fees in Canada
have reached some of their highest levels since
Confederation. Coupled with the rise in ancillary
fees and the cost of living, it is clear that a post-
secondary education is less affordable for middle-
class families today than at practically any other
6 —– CAUT Education Review, Vol. 4, No. 1
time in the history of the country. The impact of
these trends is clear. Statistics Canada (2001)
reports that young people from higher-income
families are 2.5 times more likely than those from
lower-income families to attend university.
At a time when it is becoming widely accepted
that access to post-secondary education is critical
to the personal development of individuals and to
the social, cultural and economic progress of the
nation as a whole, it is inconceivable that
government policies would restrict access to
universities and colleges. Yet, there is a direct
correlation between the rise in tuition fees in
recent years and the steady withdrawal of public
funding from post-secondary education.
It is not inevitable that university fees continue
to rise. The problem of rising tuition fees is a
political problem, caused by the under-funding of
post-secondary education over the past decade. As
such, governments at both the federal and
provincial levels can take immediate steps to
ensure that post-secondary education is affordable
and accessible to all qualified students:
• Increase core operating grants. An increase in
public operating grants is the primary way
student fees can be frozen and lowered.
• Provide needs-based grants. Canada lacks a
national student grant program and many
provinces have eliminated non-repayable
student grants in recent years. The greater
availability of grants based on income would
clearly permit more economically
disadvantaged students from attending
university or college without the risk of
amassing mortgage-sized debts.
Ultimately, solving the crisis of affordability
in post-secondary education will require action on
the part of both the federal and provincial
governments. Such an effort will demand a new
spirit of federal-provincial cooperation in order to
find ways to ensure that cost truly is not a barrier
to any qualified student. ■
CAUT Education Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 —– 7
Notes:
1
We are gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Jacalyn Duffin for providing the historical data on
carpenter wages used here.

References:

Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance. (2002) Empty Promises: The Myth of College
Access in America. Washington. D.C. Available on-line at <http://www.ed.gov/ACSFA>.

Duffin, Jacalyn. (2001) “What goes around, comes around: a history of medical tuition.” Canadian
Medical Association Journal. January 9; 164 (1).

Kwong, Jeff C., Irfan A. Dhalla, David L. Streiner, Ralph E. Baddour, Andrea E. Waddell, and Ian L.
Johnson. (2002) “Effects of rising medical school tuition fees on class composition and financial
outlook.” Canadian Medical Association Journal. April 16; 166 (8).

Statistics Canada. (2001) “Participation in post-secondary education and family income. The Daily.
December 6.

CAUT Education Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 —– 8