UNews - media events

Tuition rates a point of advocacy for students

trevor.kenney — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:53:46 +0000

Deficits, funding shortfalls and tuition hikes are all common words floating around the hallways of Alberta's post-secondary institutions the past few months.

During the Ralph Klein era, Alberta saw tuition fees hit an all-time high, which led to a new tuition fee policy in 2006. In November of that year, the Government of Alberta implemented the Tuition Fees Regulation initiative. This policy indicates that tuition cannot escalate above the rate of inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta wants to see tuition rates calculated by 'market modifiers' which means that tuition for professional and graduate programs such as medicine, dentistry, law, business, pharmacy and engineering will experience grave increases.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students are fortunate that their administration has chosen not to go down that path.

"President Bill Cade stated explicitly at the Oct. 9 Town Hall Meeting that the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge would not pursue any differential increases," says Alex Massé, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students' Union (ULSU) Vice President Academic. "In fact, he portrays the idea of raising tuition for professional programs as ridiculous."

Thus far, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students are safe from a major tuition hike for the 2010/2011 year; although, there are no guarantees of this continuing.

"The U of L administration has made it clear that they will not be seeking any increases beyond the CPI cap for the next academic year, but the government has told students that the regulation could be opened for amendment for a period of two to five years, and we have no guarantee that the U of L will not seek differential increases in future years," says Massé.

"When the cap was implemented, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta used 2004 as the base year from which increases would be calculated," adds Massé. "The U of A argues that they should be able to recalculate the base rates because they weren't given an opportunity in 2006 to adjust their professional programs to market value."

This comes at a time when the U of A is facing a $60 million deficit, along with most institutions across the province that are experiencing funding shortfalls. The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology has proposed a 40 per cent tuition hike for all programs; however, Doug Horner, Alberta Minister of Advanced Education and Technology, rejected this proposal.

"Horner let the PSE institutions know that the Ministry would accept proposals similar to the U of A's: they have to be justified and they have to be aimed only at specific programs," says Massé. "But, we do not believe that any differential tuition increases are justified."

According to Massé, if differential tuition increases are allowed to come into effect it could mean that some students will be forced to enter into a discipline of study based on their financial means over their ability or ambition.

"This means the government will be stifling the potential of many of the best and brightest prospective students," says Massé.

Advocacy is one of the mandates of the ULSU, and it works hard on all levels of government to lobby for the needs of students.

"The ULSU will work extensively with the Council of Alberta ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Students to send a strong message directly to the Government of Alberta, the bottom line being that right now student employment is at a record low and requests for student aid are at a record high, and this is the worst time for the government to allow large tuition increases," says Massé. "Depending on how things go over the next few weeks, we will certainly consider active student campaigns and media events to hammer that message home."

Tuition rates a point of advocacy for students

trevor.kenney — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:46:45 +0000

Deficits, funding shortfalls and tuition hikes are all common words floating around the hallways of Alberta's post-secondary institutions the past few months.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students are fortunate that their administration has chosen not to go down that path.

Thus far, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students are safe from a major tuition hike for the 2010/2011 year; although, there are no guarantees of this continuing.

"Horner let the PSE institutions know that the Ministry would accept proposals similar to the
U of A's: they have to be justified and they have to be aimed only at specific programs," says Massé. "But, we do not believe that any differential tuition increases are justified."

"This means the government will be stifling the potential of many of the best and brightest prospective students," says Massé.

Advocacy is one of the mandates of the ULSU, and it works hard on all levels of government to lobby for the needs of students.

U of L debuts on iTunes U

trevor.kenney — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:23:01 +0000

Anybody who's anybody seems to be connected to Apple's iTunes so it only made sense that if the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge wanted to better connect with its students, it too would have to align itself with the indispensable download service.

Now, through iTunes U, students, staff and faculty can access a variety of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge programming at their own convenience, 24 hours a day. Guest lectures, significant media events, seminar series, convocation and much more are all available through the new service. Simply download content to your computer; sync your iPod or iPhone and a variety of U of L content is available to you wile you walk, drive or even work out in the gym.

For those who already have iTunes, simply click on iTunesU to check out the new service. If you're new to iTunes, it's easy to get involved. Head to this iTunes link and download the version of iTunes for free that works with your system. Both Mac and PC versions are available.

The Curriculum Re-Development Centre (CRDC) is working hard to add fresh content to the site every week and is open to content suggestions. To help out with the development of iTunesU content, send suggestions to the CRDC at crdc@uleth.ca or give them a call at 403-380-1856.

UNews - media events

Tuition rates a point of advocacy for students

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Tuition rates a point of advocacy for students

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U of L debuts on iTunes U

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