Nova Scotia Community College announced a province-wide tuition increase yesterday.
The 3% hike will effect a majority of students in core programs.
President Don Bureaux says the hike was necessary but they also wanted to make sure it was fair.
It will come out to around $90 for local students or $300 for those who come from abroad.
“Even though that’s a lot of money, and could be painful for some students,” he says, “we thought after consulting with students that that [sic] was a reasonable amount that could be affordable.”
Bureaux says the college is also hoping to provide more bursaries and scholarships.
He says they want to make sure higher tuition doesn’t mean education is out of reach for lower income students.
“This is a focus we have,” he says, “and we are offering more and more every year.”
Some of the more expensive programs, including: recording arts, welding, gas technician and the aviation programs won’t see an increase.
Bureaux says before raising tuition they look for other ways to save money internally.
He says the money is necessary to allow them to balance the books.
