Tens of thousands of students across Canada put down their backpacks and picked up placards Wednesday, in a national day of protest against the growing cost of attending post-secondary institutions.

Students took to the streets in some 25 cities including Halifax, St. John's, Regina, Toronto, and Victoria, to draw attention to the higher cost of an education.

The demonstrations, organized by the Canadian Federation of Students, aimed to pressure provincial governments - which haven't already done so - to freeze tuition.

"Right now there is incredible disparity in access across the country," Joel Duff, the Ontario chairman of the Canadian Federation of Students, said Tuesday.

"Fees in Quebec are less than half what they are in Nova Scotia and Ontario. Just like in health care, we need standards to ensure access across the country."

In downtown Halifax, about 200 students took their protest to the main floor of the Royal Bank building. The group moved to occupy the bank after holding a protest at the Nova Scotia legislature.

Aside from street rallies, some 4,000 students gathered at the Ontario legislature Wednesday to demand a tuition freeze. The Ontario government has said it will allow undergraduate tuition fees to go up two per cent over the next five years.

Undergraduate tuition frees have gone up as much as 150 per cent over the past decade in Ontario, Nova Scotia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. British Columbia has frozen fees while Manitoba, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador have reduced fees.

After four years of university, the average student graduates with $25,000 in debt.

Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario recently asked the province to deregulate undergraduate tuition fees. The university requested the power to unilaterally increase fees instead of being bound by a provincial limit of two per cent per year, but the request was turned down.

At the University of Toronto's law school, the institution is considering a proposal to double tuition to $22,000 over the next five years.

The elimination of Grade 13 in Ontario, which will mean two classes of students will graduate together next year, will only add further strain to the post-secondary education system.

"Add the opening of private universities in Ontario as early as this fall, and students have a lot to be worried about," said Duff.

In B.C., there are rumours the new Liberal government has plans to end the tuition freeze, said Jaime Matten, chairwoman of the University of Victoria Student Society.

Shirley Bond, the minister for advanced education in B.C., said the tuition freezes have resulted in fewer places for students.

"There are few resources and more students entering the system and we have to address that."

Tuition fees

Here is a listing of the tuition fees in 2001-2002, compared with fees in 1991-1992.

2001-2002

• Newfoundland: $2,970
• Prince Edward Island: $3,690
• Nova Scotia: $4,732
• New Brunswick: $3,779
• Quebec: $1,912
• Ontario: $4,062
• Manitoba: $2,795
• Saskatchewan: $3,831
• Alberta: $3,970
• British Columbia: $2,465

1991-1992

• Newfoundland: $1,544
• Prince Edward Island: $2,120
• Nova Scotia: $2,201
• New Brunswick: $2,021
• Quebec: $1,308
• Ontario: $1,785
• Manitoba: $1,735
• Saskatchewan: $1,812
• Alberta: $1,522
• British Columbia: $1,911