The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) will launch its Canada-wide "Days of Action" Oct. 13 to 16 to protest skyrocketing tuition fees.

"It is a national disgrace that students are starting another fall term with among the highest fees and debt loads in the world," said Elizabeth Carlyle, CFS chairperson, in announcing the protest.

A recent Statistics Canada report shows that after fee increases of 88 per cent since 1990, fees continue to rise substantially in 1998-99. The federation has demanded the federal and provincial governments reinvest funds in post-secondary education and freeze fees from coast to coast.

Undergraduate arts students faced an average 6.9 per cent increase in tuition, bringing tuition fees to an average $3,197 across Canada. Ontario students were the hardest hit with an increase of 9.2 per cent, for an average tuition fee of $3,564.

Nova Scotia still has the distinction of having the highest average in the country at $3,903, while Quebec has the lowest $1,726 (no increase). The average tuition in British Columbia rose by only 0.7 per cent, the smallest increase in all of the provinces.

Graduate students were even harder hit with an average increase of 9.3 per cent, and now face annual fees of $3,287. Greatest increases occurred in Nova Scotia and Ontario with tuition fees of $5,049 and $4,224 respectively.

Students also face massive increases for professional graduate programs including the MBA or Executive MBA at Queen's, Simon Fraser, Toronto and Ottawa due to deregulation and full cost recovery policies. Students in all provinces also face increases in ancillary fees.

According to the federation, average student debt has increased almost 200 per cent from eight years ago. All things considered -- tuition, fees, board and books -- an undergraduate degree now costs $25,000 ($8,600 in 1990). College students aren't faring any better, says the Ontario Community College Student Parliamentary Association. College students graduating from a two-year program have an average debt of $14,000.

Almost half of all full-time post-secondary students must borrow funds to go to school. The Canada Student Loans Program does not provide any assistance as non-repayable, widely available grants. Also, most of the provincial assistance plans have replaced grants with student loans.

The impact of a half-decade of brutal cuts in transfer payments is showing up in student poverty statistics published by the CFS and the Canadian Association of Food Banks.

In a 1997 presentation to the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission students point out that these funding cuts have set the groundwork for university administrations to pass the burden of revenue shortfalls on to students.

The students say the result is increasing and widespread poverty in the 1990s, a claim reflected in the dramatic growth in the use of food banks on university and college campuses across Canada. In all, 44 permanent food banks and food provision programs now exist on Canadian campuses, up from 12 in 1994.

Many students need all the help they can get -- whether food banks or bursaries -- and post-secondary institutions across Canada are increasing their commitment to student assistance. Still, as one financial aid officer predicted, "rising tuition costs will continue to have a negative impact on the financial well-being of students."

"Students are reeling from continued fee increases," said Ms. Carlyle. "Students know that Martin's 1998 so-called Education Budget is completely ineffective for solving Canada's student loan crisis."

While the Canada Millennium Scholarship Fund will give some needed aid, it can only provide assistance to seven per cent of post-secondary students, and awards won't be available until the year 2000.

The federation has called on the government to implement a comprehensive system of national grants for students.

"Students have been left behind," said Ms. Carlyle, commenting on the recent first place Canada received from the United Nations on its Human Development Index. "Canada may have received top ranking from the United Nations. Yet Canada is one of only two industrialized countries that has no comprehensive system of national grants for students."

The federation has called for the Millennium Fund to be transformed into a needs-based grant fund.

With the growing level of frustration at dramatic system-wide changes made in the last few years, almost half a million students across the country are expected to take part in the federation's days of action to send a strong message to all levels of government that Canada must make funding for post-secondary education a priority.