March marks the one year anniversary of UBC's Student Affordability Task Force report. The Student Affordability Task Force’s (SATF) top priorities in its second year will include developing more tools to help students navigate rising tuition and living costs, according to VP Students Ainsley Carry.
The SATF — which comprises students, faculty and staff — has been meeting since June 2021 to develop recommendations to address affordability challenges that UBC students face.
Carry and others presented a one-year update to the Board of Governors Finance Committee at the end of March.
During the presentation, Carry said a strong motivator for the SATF to provide more financial literacy was general student hesitation to apply for loans, something he argued is a result of limited resources for financial literacy.
“UBC is the second-largest provider of student aid in Canada distributing more than $400 million to more than 45,000 students out of our 70,000 students,” said Carry at the meeting. “The average student receives more than $10,000 from the university. Our big challenge is helping students manage those funds throughout the year.”
To address this, Carry said Associate VP Enrolment Services Rella Ng has hosted seven financial wellness and planning workshops since September 2022 and has published a step-by-step budgeting guide along with a financial resource Canvas page.
Looking to student affordability as a whole
Along with financial literacy, Carry said at the meeting the SATF is drafting a multi-year tuition plan to help students prepare for annual tuition increases and eliminate unnecessary fees. He also said the UBC would revise its consultation tools to help students make informed financial decisions amid these challenges.
UBC has also launched a $100-million campaign to help create more financial aid for students without increasing tuition, Hillary Gosselin, the associate vice-president of development, said at the same meeting.
“Our goal is to raise $100 million specifically focused on affordability, in support of existing and need-based student awards, as well as affordability programs and services on both campuses,” she said. “We are now over $16.6 million raised for this campaign from approximately 3,500 donors."
Carry and Ng added UBC launched a separate task force specifically geared towards the financial needs of international and graduate students.
Ng said the task force had previously discussed creating an international undergraduate housing bursary for international students living off-campus.
But after reviewing recommendation seven of the SATF which partly regards the feasibility of international student housing, Ng said the recommendation will not proceed. The money set aside for the bursary will be allocated in part towards new international student awards instead, she said.
This year the administration also requested $800,000 for food security measures as requested by the AMS. The university will use its annual cash reserves to fund this, Carry said..
The Board approved a motion for the $800,000 for food security initiatives at its full meeting on March 31.