ONTARIO MEDICAL STUDENTS WELCOME TUITION FREEZE

Toronto, April 8, 2004 - The Student Section of the Ontario Medical Association (ssOMA) today announced its support of the decision of the Ontario Government to freeze college and university tuition for the next two years.

"We are very pleased that the Liberal government has kept its promise to freeze tuition at its current level for all post-secondary programs, including de-regulated streams such as medicine," says Natasha Sukhai, Vice Chair of the ssOMA. "This will not only help attract the best students to medical school, but also help ensure more socioeconomic diversity among our future physicians."

This two-year tuition freeze is only the first step to ensure an increase in medical school enrolment to address the physician shortage in Ontario. Since the deregulation of tuition in 1998, medical school tuition costs have nearly tripled. Undergraduate medical students could spend up to $150,000 in tuition, academic and living expenses and the average medical student will be graduating with at least $120,000 worth of debt.

"While we applaud the government for their latest action, ultimately, we would like to see tuition fees for medical school more affordable to prevent financial barriers to medical training," said Sukhai.

For more information please contact: Patrick Nelson or Nadia Daniell, OMA Media Relations, at 1-800-268-7215 ext. 2862