TORONTO — The province will announce Wednesday how much tuition fees for universities and colleges will increase in September.

A government spokesman confirmed the tuition fee guidelines will be outlined Wednesday.

Chris Bentley, Ontario's minister of colleges, universities and training, would only say he would make the announcement "in the near future.''

Student groups have stressed that fees are already too high and have expressed increasing fears they will go up after a two-year tuition freeze expires this fall.

Some have demanded that freeze be extended, while others accept small increases _ as long as they're not beyond the annual rate of inflation of about two per cent.

The average tuition for an undergraduate university student in Ontario is just under $5,000, while college tuition is just under $2,000.

The province has committed an additional $683 million for colleges and universities this year, part of Ontario's five-year $6.2-billion post-secondary education plan, Bentley said.

Last month, Premier Dalton McGuinty said the government will have to look to families to make a contribution to post-secondary education by way of tuition fee increases.