Impr int The university of Waterloo’s official student newspaper
Feds Elections
Our in-depth look at all of the candidates running for positions within Feds.
19
Friday, February 5, 2010
Vol 32, No
25
imprint . uwaterloo . ca
Our financial future decided in less than 18 minutes
Earthquake exposé Finding the factors that caused so much death and destruction in Haiti.
SCIENCE32 Team of the month
The Warriors men’s hockey team is declared OUA’s Team of the Month after winning six of seven games in January.
SPORTS
13
Inspire conference
Learn all about the successful WPIRG organized conference dealing with social justice.
ARTS
Paula Trelinska assistant news editor
T 35
What’s your motive
Andy Thibodeau delivers a dose of motivation to UW students at the SLC.
FEATURES 12 Couch activism
A UW student declares Facebook causes don’t effect any real change.
OPINION
7
approved
he University of Waterloo Board of Governors met Tuesday, February 2 to, among other things, approve an increase in both residence and tuition fees for next year. The first of the increases to be presented by the Vice President Administration and Finance Dennis Huber, was a 3.0 per cent increase in residence fees for the 2010/2011 year beginning this fall. Housing is a $30 million a year operation on campus, he said, and this increase is not dissimilar from last year. The annual increase at the university is specific for the cost profiles for that year, “a three per cent increase is also what was applied to last year’s fee, prior to that it was five per cent,” said Chris Read, the university Housing Officer. The increase was passed with little opposition, which means that next year, depending on where they’re living, students could be paying over $6,000 a term for housing. The more contentious of the two increases, undergraduate tuition, will be implemented starting this May. “Some of the Ministry of Training, Colleges & Universities (MTCU) framework expires at the end of the academic year,” explained Huber. “We are recommending with continuing with the framework under the assumption that the government will do something similar.” Since the university has a significant number of undergraduate students who register in May for the spring term, fees need to be assessed. In the absence of a future framework the tuition increases will be identical to last year. With this framework, rate increases are compounded every year. However, the average annual rate cap is 5.0 per cent. The rising tuition fees mean that current students will be paying 4.0 per cent more per term than they did this year while students newly admitted to regulated programs will be paying 4.5 per cent more. For newly admitted students in deregulated programs, the increase will be 8.0 per cent. International and graduate students will both face an increase of 3.0 per cent. Though both Samuel Andrey and Allan Babor, undergraduate representatives on the Board of Governors, voiced their opposition to the proposal, it was still voted through with only four opposing and one abstention. In an effort to represent student interests to the board, Andrey read aloud an excerpt from a recent Maclean’s article entitled: “Where all
that Money is Going.” “Teaching has not just fallen down the priority list, it has been pushed there by conscious resource allocation decisions. Less money is reaching the classroom,” he read. Though the article offered no proof to those sitting on the board, it was pointed out in reply that the University of Waterloo has one of the lowest central operating costs in Ontario and therefore more tuition fees go toward education rather than administration. While this may be true, “choices are being made while undergraduates continue to be the only party that sacrifice annually. This year, student fees will account for over 50 per cent of the operating revenue for the first time,” Andrey said. For 2009/2010 tuition income will be an estimated $176,604,000, an increase of $6.5 million since the estimates were first made in fall 2009. This increase is a result of the university exceeding first year intake and enrolment projections by 3.5 per cent this year, resulting in the total number of undergraduates surpassing UW’s Sixth Decade Plan. The university is accepting more and more students, and, according to Andrey, enrolment in undergraduate chemistry labs has increased by 60 per cent over the past 10 years. However, the non-salary component has dropped to zero. “Chemistry has struggled to achieve a minimum level of undergraduate equipment,” he argued. “Students genuinely understand the need to increase tuition, considering there are rising costs, however, they can’t understand when this translates to large investments into graduate studies and salary inflation, while undergraduate studies suffer.” While most on the board voted for the increase in student fees, Allan Babor echoed Andrey’s sentiments against the proposed rate hike. “We need to support the basic fundamental needs of the students at Waterloo,” he said. There was also concern expressed over alumni contributions being affected by the undergraduate experience. “This concerns me, when I hear that the experience of undergraduates is not very good, and I heard even further that it goes down from Year 1 to Year 4,” explained Jud Whiteside, a Lieutenant Governor in council. Andrey hoped the board would “find room in the 2010 budget for real investment in student success.” It is unsure whether tuition hikes will bring student success but, starting in May, every undergraduate student will be paying at minimum 3.0 per cent more tuition per term. ptrelinska@imprint.uwaterloo.ca graphic by sonia lee