Massive tuition fee increases will likely be necessary over the next few years, cautions an educational think tank, or universities will have to start slashing programs and services.

A hike of 25 per cent would generate $1 to $2 billion dollars, necessary money that won’t be coming from anywhere else.

A recent report by the non-profit Educational Policy Institute shows that while the recent recession has been tightening belts and lightening wallets everywhere, post-secondary education has not even begun to feel the pain.

Many universities can also expect hiring freezes, slashed library spending, fewer scholarships, deferred maintenance, and bigger class sizes in the years to come, according to a just-released study.

Titled ?On the Brink: How the Recession of 2009 Will Affect Post-Secondary Education,? it paints a grim picture of the future of PSE in Canada, but it also suggests steps forward.

The report suggests universities and colleges will be battered by converging circumstances, including weakened endowments, changing demographics, increased enrolment pressure, increased operating costs, and lessened government spending on PSE.

Co-author Ryan Dunn says that the 25 per cent number was part prediction and part prescription, and that he does not think universities should choose to cut services instead.

?We could get to that point . . . people can’t be afraid to touch this politically hot issue. Quality must be maintained, but it costs.?

John Milloy, Ontario’s minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, told the Globe and Mail that it ?is unfortunate if this has generated fear,? adding that increases coming after 2010 would not prevent qualified students from accessing PSE due to financial need.

The University of Toronto assured the Globe that impending fee increases would be in the ?single digits,? but Dunn says the potential 25 per cent increase would happen ?over three years.?

?When you do the math, You’re down to single digits,? said Dunn.

Trevor Mayoh, President of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, said while there are ?aspects of the report we agree with,? the suggested fee hike is ?a little bit silly.?

?we’re in a recession; this isn’t the time to raise tuition,? said Mayoh. ?We need to start focusing on those who can’t access post-secondary education at current [price] levels.?

Mayoh takes issue with the report’s assertion that average family incomes have increased, and can thus accommodate tuition increase. He suggests Ontario’s provincial government should actually ramp up PSE funding, to ensure the region is ready for the post-recession ?creative economy.?

?There is money in the system that could be re-directed. It’s about being more efficient,? said Mayoh.

Dunn seems to agree. He says governments have to make sure they give institutions the ?resources to handle the influx? of students, and that increased PSE participation rates would ?allow us to move from more of a manufacturing economy to whatever comes next.?

He predicts that many who lost their job in the recession will head back to college for two-year programs.

Zach Churchill, National Director of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, said in a press release that ?it is important not to have a knee-jerk reaction to the report.?

He warned that decision-makers might ?pick only the ideas they want to hear, and ignore the essence of EPI’s solutions, which is that a considered, holistic approach is needed to fix the problems our post-secondary education system will likely encounter.?

LONDON (CUP) ? If they had known what the Liberals were about to promise, perhaps students would have had a warmer welcome for Stéphane Dion as he arrived at the University of Western Ontario in London to unveil his party’s post-secondary plank.

But the Grits had been tight-lipped, so UWO students couldn’t have known Dion’s bus was practically stuffed full of cash for them. Otherwise, there probably would have been more than a small, weakly chanting knot of people there to greet it when it pulled into campus this morning.

Maybe the hundreds of millions Dion promised universities for research wasn’t exciting by itself. But it was coupled with guarantees of educational tax breaks; $5,000 federal loans available to every post-secondary student, regardless of their parental income; and a bonus $250-cheque for every student who holds a job.

All of them policies worth cheering about?if they ever see the light of day.

The crowd was thicker and more boisterous in the windowless laboratory Dion and his entourage quickly moved to after shaking a few hands. There, a throng of students clad in Western-purple and Liberal-red shirts formed a strategic backdrop for the TV cameras, along with the many microscopes cluttering the cramped lab. Textbooks were piled conspicuously beside the podium.

It all felt so scholastic.

Liberal Member of Parliament Bob Rae opened for Dion, setting the tone by interspersing snipes at Prime Minister Stephen Harper with quips. Referring to the engine trouble that forced the Liberal plane to land unexpectedly in Montreal, Rae said he’d been ?up for most of the night drinking beer and yakking with friends?can anyone here relate to that??

Shortly after, Rae said that Harper ?runs a one-man band.?

?We have a team?I think orchestras do well?and we’re going to do well in this election,? said Rae.

The party leader tried to keep the laughs going.

?Nothing was going to stop me from being here in London this morning. I would have jogged here,? said Dion. ?Colleges and universities are critical to Canada’s success.?

Dion said that due to Canada’s small population and the mounting pressure from larger G-8 countries, the Liberals intended to build a ?knowledge economy? based on ?innovation and creativity.?

?The future productivity and economic success of Canada depends on the investments we make in research and development today,? said Dion, before promising to increase the amount of ?indirect research funding that universities will receive by 50 per cent, reaching an annual level of $500 million per year within our mandate.?

He also expressed a desire for a Canada where not only ?the rich are able to broaden their minds with a diploma or degree.?

To that end, Dion said he would improve tax credits, loans, and grants.

To reform the first, a Liberal government would scrap the existing student tax credits and instead institute an upfront, $1000 grant, payable to every student, every three months, at the same time as the GST rebate.

?Students with a job will also get an additional $250 cash,? added Dion once the applause had died down, although he did not elaborate on how much or when students had to work to qualify.

It was probably the Liberal loan reforms that best heralded the shift in policy.

?The Liberal government will make all students eligible for guaranteed student loans of $5,000 regardless of parental income,? promised Dion.

Will it be enough to win over the post-secondary demographic and their parents?

The poll results will tell, but it is possible that the initial lack of excitement this morning was caused by the Green Party’s pre-emptive strike only days ago.

While at Nova Scotia’s St. Francis Xavier University, Green Leader Elizabeth May said she would ?cut all student debt in half on completion of a diploma, including existing student debt.?

One thing is certain’the parties are courting the students.