(Courtesy UNB)
Some UNB students heading back to school this fall will a last minute change to their tuition rates.
Students registered in three courses or more will now pay full time tuition rates. Previously they would be classified as part time students, and pay less.
Patrick Hickey, president of the Student Representative Council, says this will have a big impact financially on many students.
“Any amount of change, especially so last minute, is really hard for students. It’s really hard for them to come up with that money in such a short amount of time. It forces students to scramble and panic and so it’s really sort of a dangerous thing for the university to be doing,” he said.
He says the change will be felt acutely on the Saint John campus.
“A lot of our students are part-time students. It’s a big commuter campus, so it’s a big community school that way. It’s a really important distinction between full time students and part time students because it comes down to fees,” he said.
Before these changes, a student taking three courses would have been paying just for their classes, at $2,241 per semester. Now, they will pay $3,900 per semester, a more than $1,600 increase.
Students will however, be able to access things like the university’s health care system, and other amenities not previously available to them.
But, in addition to the the financial burden, Hickey says the last minute change will also have a big impact on part-time students’ ability to complete their education.
“What it does is it penalizes students who are unable to come here full time. Students who have families, who have to work full time, who can’t afford full time tuition. If you can only take two courses a semester, it’s going to take you a really long time to finish that degree that you need,” he said.
“It’s a way for the university to be able to try to bring in more money, but at the same time it does come at the expense of students.”
He says the change also affects the way students receive loans, bursaries and scholarships. With their student status’ now changed, the process becomes confusing, and some may even need to re-apply for financial help.
The last minute aspect also means many of the now full-time students would have missed out on the opportunity to apply for scholarships or bursaries from the school, which were due back in April, explains Hickey.
He says incoming and returning students were informed of the change on August 14th. School starts on the 4th, with tuition due shortly after on the 9th.
Hickey says no students or unions were consulted on the decision.
