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UBC Starts 2011/2012 Tuition Consultation

Posted By Neal Yonson On January 25, 2011 @ 12:42 pm In Asides,News | Comments Disabled

UBC Starts 2011/2012 Tuition Consultation
This will not come as a shock to anyone, but UBC is planning to raise tuition this year. Under Policy #71 [1], the university is required to consult anytime a tuition increase is being proposed. Chad Hyson, executive coordinator of the VP Students office will present at AMS Council this Wednesday (6 pm, SUB 206) outlining the proposed tuition increases and fielding questions. All students with an interest are encouraged to attend.

The university’s tuition consultation website [2] contains the details. As has been the case for the past number of years, tuition for domestic students is set to rise by 2%. For international students, a 4% increase is proposed. The 4% is broken down into a 3% HEPI [3] increase, and 1% to fund international student financial aid. These are all the same as last year.

What is new, however, is this:

The University is further proposing to offer the incoming ISI cohort (2011/12) and ISI students currently enrolled at UBC (2011/12) a tuition guarantee in the form of an annual increase of 2% for the subsequent years (2012/13, 2013/14, and 2014/15), or until graduation from your current degree, whenever is shorter.

Cynics will look at this and say future tuition increases are a fait accompli, and point out how little value the university’s tuition consultation really has. On the other side, given that UBC can raise international tuition at whatever rate they like, matching the 2% increase seen for domestics leaves ISI students better off than the (4% + capital cost constribution [4]) increases they’ve seen in recent years. Another benefit of a tuition guarantee is that it allows students to accurately predict the entire cost of their education before they enter, a benefit which domestic students don’t currently have but arguably should have as well. While some may disagree, this is a good idea and a small step forward for international students.

In the most recent AMS elections, tuition was a non-issue despite some candidates making it the entire focus of their campaign. It’s hard to find any reason to vehemently object to inflationary increases (or object at all, really.) However, if you do have thoughts about current tuition levels, or the proposed increases, you’re free to vent in the comments, or better yet, use the channels created in the tuition consultation to ask questions and create discussion with the administration.


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URL to article: http://ubcinsiders.ca/2011/01/ubc-starts-20112012-tuition-consultation/

URLs in this post:

[1] Policy #71: http://www.universitycounsel.ubc.ca/policies/policy71.pdf

[2] tuition consultation website: http://www.students.ubc.ca/tuitionconsultation/index.cfm

[3] HEPI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_Education_Price_Index

[4] capital cost constribution: http://www.students.ubc.ca/tuitionconsultation/201112-tuition-proposal/isi-proposal/capital-cost-contribution/

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