Canadian university students paid 5% more for tuition this year - more than three times the rate of inflation, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday.
That follows a 4.3% increase in tuitions last year. The rate of inflation at during the same time period was 1.3%.
British Columbia had the lowest increase, at 2%, while Quebec saw the highest, at 10.1%.
Quebec students, whose fees increased this year to about $2,774, staged raucous and sometimes violent protests throughout the spring and summer in opposition to a significant tuition hike proposed by Premier Jean Charest, who lost his seat and his leadership in the provincial election earlier this month.
But their tuition is still second lowest in the country, after Newfoundland and Labrador, where a freeze on tuitions has been in place since 2003. Students there pay about $2,649 a year.
Students in Ontario and Saskatchewan pay the most overall: $7,180 and $6,017, respectively.
Students paid the highest tuition, on average, for dentistry ($16,910), medicine ($11,891) and pharmacy ($10,297) programs, according to Statistics Canada.
Tuition for graduate students also rose an average of 4.5%, with MBAs once again the priciest programs.
