Starting in the 2024-25 academic year, the Alberta UCP government announced they will be capping post-secondary tuition increases and reducing student loan interest rates, in an effort to help students face the cost-of-living crisis.
Domestic post-secondary student tuition will cap at two per cent, said Demetreos Nicolades, Advances Education Minister, at a media conference announcing the education budget plans for 2023.
Graduate student loan re-payments have also been reduced to the prime rate, taking away the additional one per cent. The rate will now cap at 6.7, as in years prior the rate was 6.7 plus one per cent. The student loan interest-free grace period will also increase from six to twelve months.
“The change is necessary and will help address inflationary pressures by reducing costs of borrowing and alleviating repayment risks,” said Nicolaides.
Although this change will not come into fruition until the 2024-25 academic year, “this change makes Alberta a leader in Canada with only one other province, Prince Edward Island, offering students twelve months of interest-free grace period, and Alberta will now join them,” said Nicolaides.
“We thought it more appropriate to have that apply for the 2024-25 academic year, to give everyone some clear line of sight and help everybody have the appropriate time that they need to make the budget decisions for that window,” said Nicolades.
There is currently no tuition cap in place for international post-secondary students, despite them also battling the same cost-of-living implications. The government is still in conversation about how to resolve this.
