Assessing the Redistributive Impact of Higher Education Tuition Fees Reforms: The Case of Québec

In this article, we analyze the redistributive impact of a recent reform of tuition fees in Quebec. We adapt Duclos, Makdissi and Wodon's (2005) methodology to a Generalized Lorenz framework. Many policy analysts argued that maintaining low higher education tuition fees is regressive. We take a look at the empirical validity of this argument using data from Statistics Canada's Survey of Labor and Income Dynamics. We show the importance of using data to validate this argument. The results obtained allow for the conclusion that this redistributive argument is empirically not verified for the Province of Québec.