The local chair of the Canadian Federation of Students says increased provincial enrollment at Memorial University is proof that the tuition freeze is working.

As of September 23, MUN’s total fall enrollment stood at just over 16,000 students.

Newfoundland and Labrador students represented about 82 per cent of the university’s undergraduate enrollment this fall. Students from elsewhere in Canada made up 6.8 per cent of overall enrollment and international students just over 10 per cent.

A long-standing tuition freeze at MUN was lifted in 2021, and last year tuition increased by four per cent.

Education Minister Paul Dinn once again froze rates for the current year, vowing that the freeze would remain in place until the university proves its fiscal responsibility.

Nicolas Keough is hoping that increased local enrollment shows government that tuition freezes work.

He says “the last four years in a row, we’ve seen a decrease in enrollment, in first-year, undergraduate enrollment every single year.” That includes a “drastic” 19 per cent decrease as soon as the tuition freeze was dropped. “So, to see a kind of reversal in that trend as soon as rates were frozen…we’re taking this as a huge victory.”