A tuition freeze is best known as a Canadian political construct, and can accurately be applied only to other countries that offer post-secondary education at a cost.
However, the practice of regulating the rates paid by consumers, a formal regulatory process known as utility ratemaking, is carried out in many countries, including the United States, where many industries are classified as public utilities.
Since a monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity, it can be argued that colleges are an enterprise, or group of businesses that have sole access to a market of higher education, as they are the only supplier of a college degree, and are thus comparable to the monopoly of a group electric companies, who are the sole supplier of electricity.
Currently, the provinces of Alberta,[1] Manitoba, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland have tuition fee freezes in place.
The provinces of British Columbia and Ontario have previously had tuition fee freezes.