Quebec government will not appeal court ruling scrapping out-of-province tuition hike

By Canadian Press on June 10, 2025.

MONTREAL — The Quebec government says it won’t appeal a court decision overturning a university tuition hike for out-of-province students.

But the province is not backing down, with the office of the higher education minister saying the government isn’t obliged to guarantee access to Quebec universities for non-Quebecers.

The statement by Pascale Déry’s office did not give details on the government’s next move.

Quebec decided in 2023 to hike out-of-province tuition by 33 per cent to reduce the number of English-speaking students in the province, but a Superior Court judge in April found the increase was unreasonable and not justified by data.

The ruling gave the government nine months to revise its tuition plan, and also overturned new French-language proficiency requirements for out-of-province students at English-language universities.

The government says it will hold discussions with the universities about those requirements in the coming weeks.