Final answer:
Increasing tuition fees by governments aiming to balance budgets may lead to fewer students accessing higher education, potentially causing under provision of education at the efficient level.
Step-by-step explanation:
In recent years, as provincial governments attempt to balance their budgets, they have increased tuition fees considerably. This increase in fees will likely result in fewer students enrolling in college due to higher costs deterring those who cannot afford the new fees. At the same time, this may lead to an underprovision of education compared to the efficient level, as fewer individuals are able to access higher education which can have long-term impacts on a society's intellectual and economic well-being.
Historical increases in tuition and fees have shown that as the cost of education rises, access becomes more limited for the less affluent, which may discourage potentially qualified students from pursuing higher education. This process not only impacts individual students but can also hamper the collective educational level and slow the progress of an entire generation.