For immediate release: April 22, 2025
Saskatchewan NDP Says Lack Of Funding Creates Barriers For Students, Risks Province’s Economic Future
SASKATOON – The Saskatchewan NDP is joining post-secondary students to demand the Sask. Party better invest in post-secondary — a critical piece of the province’s economic future — in the wake of news that students at one provincial school are facing tuition hikes and another campus is planning to lay off frontline staff.
“The Sask. Party refuses to invest in our post-secondary students — our future — and I fear these cutbacks and cost hikes are just the beginning of the pain we will see,” said Tajinder Grewal, Saskatchewan NDP Shadow Minister for Advanced Education.
“The recent budget doesn’t keep up with the cost pressures facing campuses across our province and now, as is always the case with this government, it’s students and frontline workers who will pay the price.”
Late last week, it was announced that students at the University of Saskatchewan will face a tuition hike of 3.8 per cent. The rising cost of education comes as people in Saskatchewan report higher financial anxiety than anywhere else in the country and new figures released earlier this month show average rent in the province has increased by nearly 34 per cent over the last five years.
“Students are at a vulnerable stage of life — they are working towards important goals and the dream of a bigger future, but taking on big financial risk to achieve that,” said Emma Wintermute, incoming President for the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union. “Increasing the cost of tuition only increases that vulnerability and creates an even larger barrier to post-secondary education.”
Post-secondary took another hit this week as Saskatchewan Polytechnic has publicly confirmed it will lay off 27 frontline staff. The decision comes as a result of uncertainty about Donald Trump’s tariffs and a reduction in international student enrolment; however, faculty have long called for better funding from the province to help offset the reliance on recruiting students from abroad.
The polytechnic has said about 90 per cent of its graduates choose to work in Saskatchewan after completing school.
The recent Sask. Party budget cut funding for post-secondary education by $6 million overall (page 24) and the budget did not lock in a new, stable four-year funding agreement as many in the post-secondary sector had hoped for.
“The Sask. Party either doesn’t understand the value of investing in students or willfully ignores it,” Grewal said. “We need a government that is focused on the future, that recognizes post-secondary as being a critical piece of how we build our economic future and end the crisis in healthcare.”
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