The Ring: March 28, 2002

Protesting tuition increases, UVic students march to the University Centre prior to the board of governors meeting on March 25. [Valerie Shore photo]

UVic raises tuition fees amid noisy student protest

$2.5 million added to financial aid package to help buffer tuition hikes

After a marathon meeting that eventually stretched beyond five hours, UVic’s board of governors approved a 2002–2003 budget framework for the university on March 25 that will increase general tuition by nearly 30 per cent effective May 1.
     The budget framework also includes additional differential fees for business and engineering. The new general tuition fees will increase the cost of full-time undergraduate studies by $644 a year. Full-time graduate tuition will also rise by $826 a year.
     Included in the budget framework is $2.5 million more in student financial aid that will restore the work study program and graduate assistantships recently cancelled by the provincial government, and increase the number of bursaries and scholarships. It’s expected the package will provide financial assistance to 45 per cent more students than last year.
     Additional seating was installed in the senate chamber for the overflow crowd of students who staged a noisy demonstration outside the room prior to the meeting. UVic Students’ Society chairperson Jamie Matten addressed the board prior to the budget discussion, acknowledging the university’s difficult financial position, but asking the members to consider alternatives to fee hikes.
     Graduate Students’ Society president Gabe Haythornthwaite told the board that the budget shifted the burden for the university’s financial difficulties onto students.
     UVic President David Turpin conceded that recommending tuition fee hikes had been “a very, very tough decision.” He explained that the increased provincial grant of $122 million came with additional obligations to increase enrolment and cover items previously funded through other means, and was insufficient to cover the costs of program delivery. UVic’s provincially funded enrolment for the year is up 316 to 12,485 full-time equivalent (FTE) undergraduate students and 1,336 graduate FTEs for a total of 13,821 full-time students.
     Turpin added that while no one wanted to see increased tuition, the only alternative open to the university was to cut programs. He said that the new budget framework also provided “modest but very significant attempts to raise the quality of the learning environment.”
     Board student representative Morgan Stewart attempted a string of tabling motions and amendments ranging from extending the tuition freeze and eliminating all differential fees to advocating reduced fee increases. After two hours of discussion Stewart proposed a motion to adjourn the meeting and the students in the gallery began chanting, tossing the contents of Kraft Dinner boxes, and parading around the chamber with sirens blaring. A fire alarm was pulled and the board adjourned and reconvened in the Business and Economics Building.
     The discussions there continued for three more hours before the budget framework, which includes several other fee changes as well as improvements to university services and programs, was passed.
“It was a very difficult balancing act for the board,” says UVic board chair Linda Dryden. “We wanted to ensure that the education our students receive at UVic continues to be nationally competitive. The question we wrestled with was how to provide financial resources to do that without erecting financial barriers for students.
     “We also had to deal with the combination of factors including limited government funding, the effects of a six-year tuition freeze, increases in enrolment and a legacy of cuts made in the 1990s. By significantly enhancing student financial assistance, we’ve tried to strike the right balance between quality and affordability.”
     “Deans, staff and administrators worked hard to keep the tuition increases this year down to the minimum required to protect the quality of our programs,” says Turpin. “Unfortunately, without additional funding next year and an actual cut in 2004–05 as projected by government, further increases are in store. That’s why the additional student financial assistance is such an important component of the budget framework. We want UVic to remain accessible to qualified students from all backgrounds.”
     Decisions about how to implement the budget framework at the faculty and departmental level will be made by university faculty, staff and administrators over the next few months. A final budget will then be filed with the board before mid-fall.