Students and rising tuition

Students in Manitoba are facing additional costs at a time when many are already struggling with the rising cost of living, despite repeated promises from the provincial government to make life more affordable.

In the March 2026 Manitoba Budget, the provincial government permitted post-secondary institutions to increase domestic tuition by up to the legislated maximum of four per cent for the 2026-2027 academic year, despite students already facing rising housing costs, food insecurity, growing debt and an increasingly difficult labour market.

However, all hope was not lost — the decision on how much to raise tuition still rested with the institutions themselves. Much like a speed limit, the four per cent increase was the maximum, not necessarily the target.

Like with speed limits, however, the maximum became the target, as boards of the University of Winnipeg, Brandon University and the University of Manitoba decided to raise tuition by the maximum allowable four per cent. Meanwhile, provincial operating funding to post-secondary institutions increased by only two per cent.

Nearly two years after the federal government announced changes to international student permits, the provincial government and post-secondary institutions have not found other ways to respond to these financial pressures without asking students to pay more.

Since 2024, the federal government has cut Manitoba’s Foreign Study Permit allocation from 18,591 to 11,196, a reduction of nearly 40 per cent, while the University of Manitoba has reported a similar decline in international enrolment.

For years, post-secondary institutions have increasingly relied on international student tuition for revenue. Fewer international students mean less tuition revenue for institutions, creating real financial pressures for Manitoba’s universities and colleges.

Notably, during this same period, federal funding to the province has continued to increase, including a significant increase in equalization payments, which provide additional support to provinces such as Manitoba.

The financial pressures facing Manitoba’s post-secondary institutions cannot be solved by making tuition spikes the primary response. Other provinces facing similar challenges have found ways to support post-secondary institutions without placing additional financial pressure on students, showing that a different response is possible.

In January, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Progressive Conservative government announced a tuition freeze for Memorial University of Newfoundland and College of the North Atlantic. The government also committed to increasing operating funding by 5.5 per cent to help offset the financial impact of declining international student enrolment. Rather than asking students to absorb higher costs, the province chose to increase public investment while its post-secondary sector adjusted.

The difference is that Newfoundland and Labrador made a policy choice about increased investment in post-secondary institutions, instead of offloading the cost to students. Manitoba also does not have to look far into its own history for another approach.

In 2000, Gary Doer’s Manitoba New Democratic Party government reduced tuition by 10 per cent and introduced a tuition freeze that remained in place for nearly a decade. The province funded institutions to help offset the freeze and keep post-secondary education affordable for students.

The Doer tuition freeze resulted in a meaningful decrease in student debt. For example, average student debt owed at graduation in Manitoba, adjusted for inflation, dropped from $27,900 in 2000 to $25,500 in 2005. In 2010, after the freeze ended, the amount rose to $29,700 and reached $31,800 in 2020. This debt follows students after graduation, adding to the financial pressures they already face.

To put it simply, the tuition freeze works — and as Newfoundland has shown, you do not need to be a wealthy province to put it into action and have it work to benefit students.

This does not have to be inevitable, and we cannot act as though four per cent is a negligible amount.

In an economic climate where student food bank use and unemployment have hit record highs, and the number of students carrying debt at graduation has risen sharply, now is the time to make education more affordable by reinstating the tuition freeze and increasing operating funding for institutions across the province.

These are not new ideas. Manitoba has done it before, and Newfoundland is doing it today. Both demonstrate that increasing public investment and protecting affordability for post-secondary students are practical, achievable policy choices.

Jonathan Szo is the national lead for Research and Policy at the Canadian Federation of Students. Joy Chikezie is the chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students Manitoba. Both are research affiliates with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Manitoba office.