Higher education in British Columbia
In the report, "Campus 2020: Thinking Ahead", the creation of a Higher Education Price Index is recommended to reflect education costs so that each institution can set its own tuition levels independently, but subject to the limits imposed by the provincial government. Regarding the issue of funding higher education in British Columbia, "research-based allocation" of resources will increase the efficiency of these funds. In relation to the system, more funding is necessary to focus on the specific targets of post-secondary achievement by progressively introducing outcome and performance measurements and accountability into the budgeting process.
Higher education in Newfoundland and Labrador
Since the early 1990s, average Canadian tuition fees have increased nearly three times for undergraduate students from $1,464 in 1990-91 to $4,347 in 2006-07. By 2014-15 this national average is expected to reach $5,959. In order to keep post secondary education affordable, and in an effort to keep enrollment high, the government of Newfoundland began a program to freeze tuition fees in 1999-2001. Since then, the provincial government has steadily increased core funding to the College of the North Atlantic and Memorial University. After funding cuts over the previous years, these increases have resulted in both institutions now receiving nearly the same funding they had at the beginning of the 1990s. In an even bigger move, from 2002 to 2005, tuition was lowered each year for a total decrease of 22.7%, then frozen again. In the 2008 Speech from the Throne, it was announced that the freeze will continue for a further four years. In the most recent Fact Sheet of Budget 2015, the government states that it will continue to support the tuition freeze. In lieu of tuition increases, the White Paper on Public Post-Secondary Education recommended that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador provide increased funding to MUN and CNA as follows: $4.3M in 2005-06; $8.9M in 2006-07; and $12.4M in 2007-08. This replacement funding was followed by a commitment in the 2008 Provincial Budget of $56 million over the next four years specifically to continue the tuition freeze at Memorial University and the College of the North Atlantic. As a result, Newfoundland and Labrador's public post-secondary tuition has been second only to Quebec's in Canada for some years. For 2012-13, Quebec's average undergraduate tuition per student stood at $2,565 compared to $2,649 for Newfoundland and Labrador. However, starting from 2013-2014, Newfoundland and Labrador's undergraduate tuition fees for Canadian students became the lowest of $2,631, while Quebec's tuition was $2,657. The average tuition fees for undergraduate full-time Canadian students in Canada were $5,767 in that year.