TORONTO - Getting into an Ontario university this fall will be even harder than expected, as a jump in applications by high school students and laid off workers puts scarce spots at a premium.

More than 86,500 people applied to the province's 22 universities for September classes -- an increase of 2,300 applications by high school students over last year, or nearly three per cent, according to statistics provided Monday by the Ontario Universities' Application Centre.

The number of applications from mature students -- who have later deadlines -- is tracking at about the same rate, said the Council of Ontario Universities.

The council, which represents the province's universities, says it would take up to $100 million just to fully cover the cost of the number of students accepted to Ontario's universities last year.

Even more funding would be necessary to fund any increase in the number of students accepted for September.

Cut-off dates for applications to universities in other parts of Canada vary, and observers will be watching to see if the trend toward more demand for spots holds across the country.

But John Milloy, Ontario's minister of training, colleges and universities, says there has been no decision to increase post-secondary education funding at this point.

"Those decisions have not been made and those announcements have not been made," Milloy said in a phone interview.

"Our commitment to education is pretty well known...and I think that's as far as we can go."

Ontario spent $6.2 billion on training, colleges and universities in 2008-2009, and the budget for 2009-2010 is estimated at $6.5 billion.

Milloy said that if funding for colleges and universities were boosted, the increase would come in the government's spring budget or just before.

But council president Bonnie Patterson said she hoped the money would come well before the budget.

Admission standards, which in some programs at Ontario's top universities are already at at least 80 per cent, will be driven higher and accessibility threatened if the government doesn't fully fund the increase in the number of students applying, Patterson said.

The council says the rate of increase in applications among mature students could translate into 45,000 mature students applying by the end of their application cycle in September.

There has been concern that Ontario's Grade 12 students will be squeezed out for precious spots by older people who have already spent years in the workforce and want to return to school to retrain as a result of the economic recession.

Milloy and some university officials have indicated recently that Grade 12 students will not be given priority for the available spaces despite the fact they could end up in the workforce with only a high school education if they are not accepted. Laid-off workers would by definition have some employment experience to fall back on if not accepted.

Patterson says the hike in applications shows the public values a university education.

She says the universities can handle the increase, but only if the government is prepared to fully fund the needs it will create.

And she warns it will take more investment in universities if the government wants to achieve its stated goal of having enough graduates to fuel the so-called "knowledge economy" of the future.

"To meet these demands, enhanced government investment in the sector is required to accommodate the growth and to ensure that the quality of the learning experience is not undermined by taking more and more students on board," said Patterson.

The government's own task force highlighted the need for more educated graduates in the years to come, she noted.

"We recognize that these are challenging economic times for the province but as the Ontario Task Force on Competitiveness has said in a recent report, the recession has not changed the imperative for developing our human assets -- if anything it has heightened the need," she said.

Shelley Melanson, the head of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, said unless there is more funding the quality of Ontario's graduates is at risk.

Classrooms would be overcrowded, she said, and instructors would have less one-on-one time with students because they would be forced to teach at more than one institution.

"That's going to be a problem in terms of the kind of quality of graduates that we're able to produce," she said.

There has been a 46 per cent increase in the number of university applicants since 2000.

Milloy says the government has created an additional 100,000 places since 2003, when the Liberal government was elected in Ontario.