Students in Ontario are reacting with alarm to news that the provincial government is considering the deregulation of undergraduate tuition fees for at least one university in the province.

In the provincial legislature, opposition parties revealed that representatives from Queen's University have been meeting with officials from the offices of Premier Mike Harris to press for the deregulation of arts and science undergraduate tuition fees. If approved, it would mean the government would no longer set caps on how much Queen's could raise tuition each year, leading to the prospect of far steeper fees in the future.

"Access to post-secondary education in Ontario has already been compromised," said Joel Duff, Ontario chair of the Canadian Federation of Students. "Increasing tuition fees at Queen's would be devastating for middle and lower income students."

The proposal to deregulate undergraduate fees has sparked a flurry of protest at Queen's, where students and faculty have staged several demonstrations to voice their opposition. Last year, students voted overwhelmingly against deregulation in a referendum organized by the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society, and the Queen's University Faculty Association Council recently passed a motion opposing tuition deregulation.

"QUFA will oppose any initiative, including the further privatization of Queen's academic programmes and additional deregulation of tuition that would lead to increased economic burdens placed on students, and to a further decline in accessibility," the resolution states.

Duff said Ontario's students are united in their opposition to deregulation because they already pay the second highest fees in the country. He added the real issue is the provincial government's continued underfunding of post-secondary education, the lowest in Canada when measured on a per capita basis.

Marie Bountrogianni, the provincial Liberal critic for colleges and universities, blasted the government for even considering deregulating fees.

"We already know what happens when you deregulate tuition. Since it was deregulated in 1998, medical school tuition has doubled," Bountrogianni noted.

Student groups also expressed concern that the University of Toronto is considering raising the cost of tuition at its law school to $25,000 a year.

"The doors of our law schools are being increasingly closed by skyrocketing tuition," said Queen's law student Rebecca Jaremko-Bromwich.

The Canadian Federation of Students is planning a province-wide day of action Feb. 6 to demand that tuition fees be frozen.