U of C hikes tuition, other fees
University of Calgary students will need to dig a little deeper to pay for their education after the school’s board of governors approved increases to tuition, oncampus living and parking.
The U of C’s board of governors approved a tuition hike Thursday of 2.15 per cent for the 2013-2014 school year, a five-per-cent increase to most on-campus residences and a $0.50 to $1-per-hour hike to parking rates.
Dru Marshall, vice-president academics for the university, says even with the increase, tuition falls “well below the Canadian average.”
“It is a completely reasonable amount,” Marshall said, referring to the tuition hike.
The average tuition paid by undergrads at the U of C in 2010-11 was $5,238.
But, according to Statistics Canada, the average tuition for Alberta students increased almost 10 per cent over the past five years, from $5,308 in 2008 to $5,883 in 2012.
The average tuition for Canadian students enrolled in full-time studies increased almost 15 per cent, from $4,747 to $5,581 over that same fiveyear period.
Those numbers don’t include other cost-of-living expenses such as books, rent or transportation.
Kyle Klassen, a second-year engineering student at the U of C, said he’s already struggling to pay for tuition, noting he currently pays about $3,500 per semester for tuition and books.
“Working over the summer, there’s not a lot of time to make enough money to pay for a year,” he said. “I don’t know if I could handle an increase.”
Education student Raven Scott says she could support the increases if the university allowed students to opt out of paying for services students don’t use or lowered parking fees.
“Maybe if they could give us an option of getting out of some other fees then it could work, like getting out of your gym membership if you don’t use the gym,” said Scott, who pays about $3,000 per semester for tuition, books and parking.
The 2.15-per-cent tuition increase falls in line with provincial legislation that caps tuition hikes to the consumer price index. However, post-secondary schools can tack on additional instructional fees, which can cloud the actual cost of attending post-secondary.
The head of the students’ union says the university is getting around the provincial cap by increasing the amount students pay in fees. The university approved a $150 increase in fees earlier this year.
“When we look at that $150 increase that all students will face, then we factor in a $115 increase to tuition. In total, tuition fees are closer to five per cent this upcoming year,” said Hardave Birk, president of the students’ union.
He wants to see the province regulate fee increases, similar to the ex- isting tuition cap, and for students to be able to vote on services they are now forced to pay for.
“The whole reason for the CPI cap is to make sure that tuition is predictable as years go by,” he said.
“What happens when these fees increase is that there’s no predictability in that. So you have $150 this year, zero dollars next year, maybe $200 the following year.”