College and university students delivered 50,000 petitions to Premier Dalton McGuinty today at Queen's Park to address rising tuition fees.

Members of the Ontario branch of the Canadian Federation of Students said that McGuinty's "Reaching Higher" framework, which has allowed tuition fees to rise between four and eight per cent annually.

"Now is the time for our premier to invest in the economic well-being of Ontario. Now is the time to drop fees," said Shelley Melanson, chairperson for the CFS in Ontario. "Increasing access to post-secondary education is the key to building a strong economic foundation for Ontario. It's a simple formula."

Students handed boxes of petitions to NDP training, colleges and universities critic Rosario Marchese outside the legislature during a meeting this afternoon, where the release of a revised Ontario budget has been promised to address the current economic downturn which faces the province.

Statistics Canada released data on Oct. 9 that Ontario tuition fees increased at the highest dollar amount - $5643 - in Canada. The petitions were collected since last month. Demonstrators were also expected to dump tens of thousands of petitions to McGuinty's constituency office in Ottawa.