Accessibility
Evidence demonstrates that financial barriers are the main reason for post-secondary graduates not continuing their studies.2 Undergraduates who complete their program with excessive debt loads are less likely to consider entering graduate studies, particularly if it will result in more debt.

Quality of Research
Financial hardship also affects the quality of research performed by graduate students. Graduate students under financial stress often shorten their fieldwork, forego publishing and conference presentations, and rush the writing phase of dissertations in order to complete more quickly. Consequently, there is a negative effect on the overall quality of research at universities.

Time-to-Completion and Retention
Higher tuition fees force some graduate students to take on additional employment off-campus to finance their education, thereby reducing their time available to research and extending time-to-completion. Heavier financial burdens also increase the risk that graduate students will quit their programs before they finish. Higher fees have a greater impact on those with less ability to pay, such as international students, students with disabilities, single parents, women, and Aboriginal students.

International Students' Tuition Fees
The elimination of post-residency fees greatly increases the financial burden on international students. At many universities that have eliminated post-residency fees, the cost of a five-year PhD program has more than doubled. At Queen's University, for instance, a five-year PhD program in the arts cost $25,550 prior to the elimination of post-residency fees. Today, the same program costs $53,000. By comparison, those universities where post-residency fees have been maintained are far more accessible to international students. At the University of Manitoba, for example, a five-year PhD program in the arts costs $18,730.

On average, fees for international students are triple those of domestic Canadian students and are continuing to increase at a faster rate.3 A post- residency fee system is one way to improve the accessibility of graduate studies for international students.