UCalgary consultation on exceptional tuition hikes inadequate: student group

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A group representing students at the University of Calgary says administrators have dropped the ball on consultations for proposed tuition increases of up to 51 per cent.

Now, the school’s students’ union is calling on administrators to postpone a decision on the fee hikes until the fall, when most students will return to campus from summer break.

“Students were only actually told about this proposal in mid-May, which is two weeks after classes had ended and students had already left for summer break,” said UCalgary Students’ Union president Nicole Schmidt.

“The university’s poor planning means they weren’t able to get real feedback from students.”

Last month, UCalgary proposed exceptional tuition increases ranging from 15.7 per cent to 32 per cent to the domestic bachelor of engineering, medical doctor and master of business administration programs. Even steeper increases are on the table for international students, with undergraduate engineers from outside of Canada facing a potential 51 per cent hike.

The university must submit the proposals for approval to Alberta’s Advanced Education Department by the end of June to take effect in fall 2022. If given the green light, continuing students would be exempt from the fee increase.

The proposal follows seven per cent tuition hikes for most programs in the 2020–21 and 2021–22 academic years, with engineers facing a 10 per cent jump to tuition each of those years.

Schmidt said administrators met with student leaders Tuesday evening to discuss the fees, maintaining they began consultations in March. But she said students asked to fill out consultation surveys months ago were not told about the possible exceptional tuition increases.

“This is like the government consulting on a highway but not telling anyone where the highway will go, or how much it will cost,” Schmidt said.

In a statement, UCalgary said it is continuing consultations with stakeholders, including students, on the exceptional tuition increases.

“If approved, funding generated by these proposals would improve the quality of programming, enhance the student experience, and provide scholarships and bursaries in accordance with the provincial government’s tuition framework,” the school said.

Schmidt said if the university doesn’t postpone its tuition decision, she wants Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides to delay approval.

A Canadian taxpayer watchdog group said data on pay raises for university staff during the COVID-19 pandemic shows increases to student tuition is partly funding increases to staffing expenses.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation said the data, obtained through provincial freedom of information legislation, found pay increases amounted to $29.2 million in 2012; $10.5 million of that was at UCalgary.

“The cupboards aren’t really that bare at these schools,” said Franco Terrazzano, director of the advocacy group.

“Our students need to be pointing the finger and raising tough questions at the university administrators, bureaucrats and professors who have been pocketing pay raises during the downturn.”

Many raises at the university in 2020 were mandated in union contracts. Recently, the school proposed a three per cent wage rollback for more than 5,000 support staff; the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees called the submission “nothing short of disgusting.”

Schmidt declined to comment on staffing matters but said provincial legislation requires exceptional tuition increases to be limited to improvements to program quality, prohibiting their use for things such as staff salary increases.

UCalgary has said provincial budget cuts play a role in the proposed tuition hikes. The school’s operating budget is at its lowest since 2011 after receiving cuts in the past three provincial budgets.

jherring@postmedia.com

Twitter: @jasonfherring