Student- housing hike will mean $ 6.5 million more a year for UBC
The University of B. C. is set to rake in a $ 6.5- million annual windfall by hiking student housing fees by 20 per cent starting in September 2015.
About 5,700, or 60 per cent, of the 9,463 students who live on- campus will see their housing fees increase by $ 105- 140 a month, said Andrew Parr, the managing director of student housing and hospitality at UBC.
Students who live on- campus year- round are not subject to the hike and will pay an increase roughly equal to inflation.
Parr said the fee increases sound substantial but claimed students will still pay less to live on campus than most places as much as an hour away by transit.
“I don’t want to make light of a 20 per cent increase … but we feel it’s still well within that at- or below- market structure,” Parr said, explaining that the university compared its housing costs to those of cities including Burnaby, Richmond, North Vancouver and Vancouver and found them relatively cheap.
It found the average post- hike housing cost at UBC to be about $ 780, in comparison to between $ 740 and $ 860 off- campus. Parr said, however, that a “really comprehensive apples- to- apples comparison” is difficult due to the type of housing the university provides, which includes dorms and other types of shared accommodations.
The fee increase only applies to winter session students — those who live on campus from September to April. Those students now pay between $ 527 and $ 1,115 monthly for housing, and many of them also pay for a meal plan of about $ 450 a month.
Meal costs for those and other students are also set to rise next year thanks to a huge planned increase — from $ 65 to $ 350 — in a capital improvement fee tacked on to the students’ meal plans.
Parr said the price hikes will help the university fund initiatives including student services and financial support programs, as well as development of new buildings for housing to meet demand. There is a 5,200- person waiting list for student housing.
He said the new money would not go to fund administrative costs of the housing unit, and said the rate hike was a “collective university decision” that involved executives and the board of governors, but not students.
Anne Kessler, the vice- president of academic and university affairs for UBC’s student society, said the university hasn’t yet justified the need for a singleyear housing increase so large it would be considered illegal under the province’s Residential Tenancy Act. Housing owned or operated by educational institutions is exempt under the act.
“It is true that there are huge wait lists, and there probably will continue to be wait lists even if they hike it up, but there’s going to be a lot of students that are not going to be able to afford ( to) live on campus, and that’s really too bad,” she said.
Kessler said the university’s price comparison between onand off- campus accommodation looked faulty.
“Living in ( a dorm) is not the same as living in a one- bedroom place,” she said. “I think they’re denying the fact that many students find substandard housing to be able to afford it and it costs a lot less.”
Kessler said she lives in a basement suite in the Dunbar neighbourhood with two roommates and pays $ 550 per month. Meanwhile, the university pegged housing costs in that part of the city at $ 860.
“That’s not a little difference,” she said.
Kessler added that the university has not provided a detailed breakdown of costs so students can see exactly where their money is going and said even though students weren’t involved in the decision, she didn’t see them accepting it without a fight.
“I don’t think that students will be quiet about this,” she said. “They care about their housing.”