Tuition fees and equality of university enrolment

Abstract

The relationship between tuition fee changes and the university enrolment of youth by parental income group in Canada is investigated. Comparisons between youth from Canadian provinces that increased tuition fees sharply in the 1990s and youth from provinces that instituted fee freezes were integral to identifying the relationship. Tuition fee increases coincided with reductions in the university enrolment of low-income youth, but with significantly smaller changes in the university enrolment of other youth. The relationships between government funding of universities and cohort size and university enrolments are also analyzed. © 2009 Canadian Economics Association.