TORONTO - A New Democrat government would roll back college and university tuition fees to more affordable levels and freeze them for at least four years, Howard Hampton said Tuesday.

Going to school shouldn't mean a "debt sentence'' that forces students to borrow tens of thousands of dollars and discourages people from getting a higher education, the NDP leader said during a campaign-style event in Toronto.

"For many young people, when they look at that kind of financial obstacle they decide to forgo college or university,'' Hampton said.

"You cannot go on with spewing rhetoric talking about a knowledge economy and a knowledge society and a need to up-skill our people and continue to drive up the cost of accessing that skill and that knowledge.''

The tuition cut, which would restore tuition fees to 2003 levels, would save the average undergraduate university student about $460 a year, while students training to be doctors or lawyers could save about $1,500 a year, Hampton said.

Shortly after the Liberals were elected in 2003, Premier Dalton McGuinty introduced a two-year tuiton freeze, but rates increased again once the freeze was lifted last year, despite the protestations of student groups.

An NDP government would make up the cost of cutting tuition to avoid forcing universities and colleges to make spending cuts, he said.

Hampton wouldn't commit to exactly how long he would freeze fees, but said they would stay stable for a minimum of four years if his party is elected on Oct. 10.

"Other provinces are doing this and have done this,'' Hampton said.

"In Manitoba, the NDP government froze tuition fees for eight years, boosting university and college enrolment by 33 per cent and creating a highly skilled workforce.''

Hampton also pledged to also eliminate classroom fees for apprenticeship programs, which cost an average of about $400 per session. Jesse Greener, the Ontario chairman for the Canadian Federation of Students, said he hopes that Hampton's promises will push the Progressive Conservatives and Liberals to react with their own plans to cut tuition fees."It's the right direction to move in and we need to move in that direction immediately,'' Greener said.

"Any party that's going to advocate moving in that direction should be seriously considered and congratulated and I'm looking forward to hearing the other parties hopefully move down similar lines.''