EDMONTON—Get ready to dig a little deeper, university students.

In the hopes that institutions across the province will begin finding their own sources of revenue — and wean themselves off provincial support in the process — the Alberta government is cutting just over $117 million from the post-secondary system next year and lifting the tuition freeze.

Tuition increases will be capped at seven per cent every year for three years, maxing out increases at a 21 per cent total. Individual programs are limited to increasing tuition by 10 per cent per year.

The United Conservatives rolled out their first budget Thursday, which charts a path to balancing the budget over four years. But getting there will mean tightening belts. Significantly so, when it comes to post-secondary.

Several changes the government sees as prudent for getting Alberta’s finances sorted out likely won’t be viewed the same way by students who are now left paying higher tuition, more interest on student loans, and losing tax credits.

The Opposition NDP and student leaders slammed the collection of moves as a crass dig on young Albertans already struggling under the weight of debt and who contribute significantly to the economy once they finish their post-secondary programs.

Over the next four years, the government is planning a 12.5 per cent decrease in operating expenses for post-secondary — that’s about $600 million in cuts over four years. The government expects the post-secondary sector will lose 300 jobs either through attrition or other measures over the next year alone.

The overall $117-million cut this year is being pulled back through the Campus Alberta grant, which works out to a five per cent spending reduction. It won’t be applied to schools equally — institutions with better finances will receive less funding.

Advanced Education’s total operation budget is about $5.3 billion and by 2022-23, the government hopes to see the total operating expense down to $4.7 billion.

Furthermore, students with loans will see interest rates go up on April 1, 2020. That’s when students will pay prime plus one per cent on their loans. It currently sits at a prime rate. So a student paying off a $30,000 loan over 10 years, under these changes, would see an additional $15 per month tacked on.

Also gone under the budget is the education and tuition tax credit, set to be eliminated in January 2020. Students could claim the credit and save a chunk of money when tax time rolled around each year.

The moves come straight out of the MacKinnon panel report, a document completed in the summer by former Saskatchewan finance minister Janice MacKinnon. The report argued it should be an institution’s responsibility to find funding, and they should be less reliant on the provincial government.

Even with the changes, Finance Minister Travis Toews said Thursday that Alberta will still be funding full-time students at a higher rate than the average in the provinces.

But the government’s rationale didn’t fly with Adam Brown, vice-president of the University of Alberta’s students’ union, who said he was disappointed and shocked by the moves, particularly on financial assistance.

“I can tell you that students are not going to be happy,” he said. “To receive, I would say, such a dramatic shift in this system that we’ve been working really hard to build to be a lot more supportive for students than it has been, it’s quite disappointing, for sure.”

Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley went further and called the financial changes made “wrong.”

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“Their plan is to limit access to post-secondary education in this province,” she said.

“They’re going to limit our ability to diversify, our ability to pull ourselves up by our own socks, and do what we have historically done to keep Alberta as an economic leader in this country, and they’re doing it at the expense of our young people.”

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