In the same time period, the average student debt load rose from $8,000 to $25,000. So it is no surprise that enrolment has continuously dropped. Students and their families are finding it harder and harder to afford tuition.
The much-touted Millennium Scholarship Fund, which was introduced in 1997, was the Liberals' response to the protests against tuition hikes that was led by the Canadian Federation of Students and student activist organizations.
However, it falls far short of the demands by the CFS and the wider student movement that included the reinstatement of a system of grants and, of course, a freeze on tuition fees.
This year, Ontario leads the nation in average increases at 9.6%. The lowest rate can be found in British Columbia, which is below 1%.
It is no coincidence that former BC premier, Glen Clark, froze tuition at the height of the province's student protests. The student movement then won a victory that needs to be generalized to students all over Canada.
The Toronto housing crisis
The deregulation of Ontario rent control laws by the Tories has not helped students who are in need of affordable housing for the upcoming school year.
Landlords, who are now able to raise rents well beyond students' budgets, have decreased the supply of affordable housing. Many students are now scrambling to find a cheap place to live.
The second obstacle that is preventing students from finding a roof over their heads is the lack of available housing units. The vacancy rate in Toronto is less than 1%.
The University of Toronto's 6,100 residence rooms are fully booked and an additional 2,000 rooms will not be available until the year 2003. The housing crisis is so severe, the University of Toronto has had to advertise for off-campus housing for the first time ever.
"We've had students go to open houses where 25 to 50 people are all competing for the same place," said Victoria Austin, office manager of student-housing services at U of T.
Austin said that bachelor apartments that were listed from $475 to $600 a month last year are renting for $550 to $750 this year. She said one landlord called the student-housing office to offer a two-bedroom apartment -- for $2,400 a month!
At least we can go bankrupt
To add insult to injury, the federal government had made it extremely difficult for students to declare bankruptcy.
But last week, a Newfoundland Supreme Court Judge, Justice Alex Hickman, struck down the portion of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act that discriminated against students. The Act was originally changed in 1998 that excluded student loans from protection.
Federal government lawyers argued that the changes to the Act was justified by the possibility of getting a good-paying job that a university or college degree bring to students, enabling them to pay back the loan.
This is absolutely ridiculous. Most university graduates are not guaranteed a job that would provide the them with the means to pay back their student debt on time.
So Michael Conlon, chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students, is correct by saying, "This law is clearly discriminatory and it is now clear that the federal government won't solve the student debt crisis by criminalizing student loan borrowers."
Prepare now for February 2
The simplest solution to solving this crisis is to demand an immediate tuition freeze and an end to cutbacks to education.
The Canadian Federation of Students has called for a Canada-wide mobilization February 2 to demand exactly that.
On every campus, student activists should begin now to prepare for February 2.