About 70 per cent of Okanagan College’s students will see their tuition remain steady for the coming year, as a result of a Board of Governors’ decision Tuesday.

The Board decided to replicate a decision it made last year and freeze those tuition fees at Okanagan College that are more than 10 per cent above average for similar programs at other institutions.

The result is that for many students, the fees at Okanagan College will remain the same next year.

“This is a student-centric decision that means that most of our students won’t be seeing tuition increases for the coming year,” says Board Chair Lance Kayfish. “Where we are notably higher than other comparable institutions, we won’t be compounding that difference.”

“Earlier this year, we adopted a new strategic plan and one of our core values is accessibility for students. This decision reflects our commitment to our students and access.”

Colleges have been bound by a provincial policy that limits tuition increases to the rate of inflation for each year. Okanagan College has only once chosen to raise all its tuition fees in the past five years. Indications are that the provincial policy will again limit increases to two per cent for 2011-12.

Programs where tuition will remain the same in the coming year include the Associate of Arts degree program (approximately $3,078 annually), the Associate of Science degree program (approx. $3,298 annually), the Bachelor of Business Administration (approx. $3,880 annually), the Criminal and Social Justice Diploma program (approx. $3,078 annually), Culinary Arts (not including apprentice cook) (approx. $3,754), the Aircraft Maintenance Engineer M-License program (approx. $7,334), and a number of others. Other unaffected programs include Adult Basic Education, Adult Special Education and English as a Second Language, for which domestic students are charged no tuition.