The university hosted a town hall on Monday as part of their consultation process on the annual two per cent domestic tuition increase.
Present at the town hall were five members of the administration, including Angela Redish, vice provost and associate vice president of enrolment, Ian Burgess, comptroller and Louise Cowin, vice president, students. At its height, nine students were in attendance, with VP Academic Anne Kessler, EUS President Veronica Knott and student senator Aaron Bailey representing the AMS.
The town hall began with questions about what factors were causing the tuition increases, whether the university was lobbying the provincial government for increased grants and whether the university was concerned that its status as a public institution was in jeopardy, considering how much of its operating budget was comprised of tuition fees and revenue sources.
Cowin said that one of the university’s concerns was the reduction in funds coming from the provincial government. Although they lobby the provincial government for increased funding, none of the administration sounded optimistic, with Burgess noting that “the possibility of tuition increases is not a 2015 phenomenon. It’s something we’re going to have to face in upcoming years as well.”
According to Redish, the university is doing all that it can to avoid cuts in other areas to balance out tuition increases.
“We’re doing all we possibly can to minimize the growth of administrative [costs] so we can concentrate as much as we can on delivering great education,” said Redish.
When Bailey asked if the cuts to provincial funding were a political choice or if there were no other options for the government to take, Redish replied that the government had limited options.
“Are they making a choice? Yes. Are their hands tied? Yes,” answered Redish.
Burgess said that 7.5 per cent of the two per cent increase in tuition would be allocated towards the pot of financial aid and awards the university makes available to students each year. The one per cent cut in grants provided by the provincial government is equal to $8 million, he said, in comparison to the $3 - 3.5 million which will be gained through the two per cent tuition increase.
The two per cent increase has been an annual occurrence for UBC since 2005, when the government capped yearly increases for domestic tuition at that level.