On October 7th, UBC proposed a 10% increase in the tuition fee for international students, along with a 20% increase in their residence fees. This steep increase would take place in 2015, despite the fact that last year, 91% of students had voted against an increase in tuition fees.
A 10% increase in fees would mean that an incoming international student in the Arts, the largest faculty, would be charged $878.90 per credit, and $26,400 in their first year if they took a full course load. This is $2401 more than what a first year international Arts student paid this year. This excludes the cost of textbooks and student fees.
A 20% increase in residence fees would mean that any student, whether domestic or international, would pay roughly $843.60–$2570.20 more per year depending on what kind of residence option they choose. UBC has justified this increase by saying that they wish to attract successful international students and therefore boost the university’s rankings. Source.
Naturally, there has been a lot of outrage and unrest amongst UBC students, who believe that this will affect everybody in the university. A group of students have come together and formed #IamAStudent (www.iamastudent.ca), a movement to promote fairness in tuition and housing prices by. So far, they have assembled thrice. They have organized a teach-in session to make more students aware of what is happening, held a demonstration, and at the AMS Annual General Meeting on October 28th, they reached quorum, and passed seven motions to oppose the increase in housing and tuition fees. Source. According to them, “any student who is opposed to these hikes is part of the I Am A Student movement”. Their next meeting is on Monday, November 3rd at 5pm in Room 207 of the SUB.
Get involved:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Am-A-Student-UBC/356542991174301
Website: www.iamastudent.ca
Written by: Sarah C
