Red Deer College is expected to increase fees and tuition overall by 1.5 per cent in the 2010/2011 school year.

Alberta Advanced Education sent the college a letter in August allowing the increase, which is based on the cost of living increases in the province.

“We can’t exceed 1.5 per cent, but we can distribute it in different ways. It’s usually a mix of direct tuition and sometimes special fees because we have additional cost in some programs and not in others,” said Jim Madder, executive vice president academic at RDC. Madder said over the last few years there have been tuition increases in the 3.5 per cent range per year at RDC.

The increase does not include trades programs, which will have their own amount through consultation with government. It also doesn’t include non-credit fees.

Other post-secondary institutions across the province have asked the government for larger tuition increases next school year. The University of Alberta wants to raise fees for pharmacy students from $5,100 to $8,500, with medical students paying up to $15,500 if it’s allowed. NAIT wants its average annual tuition to raise over the next three years to just over $5,400, according to reports by other media.

Full-time credit students at RDC this year pay around $3,500 in tuition, dependent upon the number of credits they are taking.

Credit students pay $106.50 per credit at Red Deer College and most full-time students take between 32 to 33 credits.

Steven Kwasny, president of the RDC Students’ Association, said students are fortunate not to have an administration at the college that wants to implement large increases.

“It could be much worse. RDC is sitting pretty well right now,” Kwasny said.

School divisions and post-secondary institutions have shown fear that there could be cutbacks in government funding during the next school year.

Asked about the provincial funding next year, Madder said there is certainly concern about what the it will look like. “We’re being quite open and saying we don’t know,” he said.

The exact tuition rates are expected to be known around mid-January and RDC administration will likely know what provincial funding will be sometime in February.

sobrien@reddeeradvocate.com