This fall, more than 1,500 new international students set foot on McMaster University’s campus. In the coming years, the university plans to further increase international student enrolment. As more international students are accepted to McMaster, student and university-led groups are working to identify and address key issues that they face.
McMaster’s 2017-2020 Strategic Mandate identifies international enrolment as a strategic priority. In 2017-2018, there were 2,589 international students studying at McMaster, a 25 per cent increase from the year prior.
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The Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development does not limit the number of international students that a post-secondary institution can admit. The ministry estimates that by 2020, international students will make up 20 per cent of all post-secondary enrolments in Ontario.
International students choose to study in Canada for a wide variety of reasons, including the high quality of the Canadian education, the perception of Canada as a tolerant and non-discriminatory country and Canada’s reputation as a safe country.
However, many international students face significant barriers upon arrival, which can lead to problems with mental health, housing, finances and work.
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Tuition
One of the most commonly cited issues for international students across the province is tuition. According to the Ontario Undergraduate Student Association’s 2015 Ontario Post Secondary Student Survey, 49 per cent of international students stated that they had difficulty meeting their annual tuition payments.
At McMaster, a first-year domestic computer science student would pay $8,886 in the 2018-2019 academic year. However, an international student registered in the same program could pay between $25, 514 and $31, 658 per year, depending on their year of enrolment.
Universities across the province rely on international students’ high tuition to offset their operating costs. According to a 2016 Global Affairs Canada study, international students account for 11 per cent of the Ontario undergraduate population but generate 28 per cent of total tuition revenue.
The 2018-2019 McMaster Consolidated budget states, “to increase undergraduate enrolment and ensure our budget remains balanced, we need to shift our efforts to recruit additional international students, up from the current 10 per cent of undergraduate enrolment.”
This is possible because international student tuition rates are unregulated, meaning that there is no limit on how much they can increase year to year. As a result, international students face the burden of sharp, and often unpredictable, increases in tuition rates.
In addition to being an issue on its own, high tuition can also cause other problems for international students. Paula Daidone, a McMaster alumna, remarked that high tuition can put international students in vulnerable housing situations, as they are more likely to be willing to sacrifice quality in exchange for low rent.
Additionally, international students may have limited English skills, and might be searching for accommodations while living outside of Canada. Overall, these factors mean that international students are more likely than domestic students to face predatory landlords or end up in unsafe living situations.
Anant Jain, a second-year computer science student from India, also noted that high tuition means that international students often face a great deal pressure to succeed in school. International students may also face increased mental health issues due to the pressure to meet high tuition payments, problems with housing and academic stress.
Campus Life
International students can find it difficult to participate in campus life, due in large part to prejudice and racism from other students, cultural differences and language barriers.
Jain noted that some international students are nervous about initiating conversations.
“When they don’t talk to people, when they don’t interact with people, they obviously have a close community feeling, they feel like people are not accepting them,” Jain stated.
However, not all international students have trouble integrating to campus life. Jain’s outgoing nature and desire to participate in campus events helped him was integrate easily into the McMaster community.
“I think, if you really want to talk to people, people will talk to you anytime,” he said. “And people are really welcoming here.”
Jain also benefitted from mentorship programs and social events offered through International Student Services. Last year, McMaster Student Affairs conducted focus groups to help identify the needs of the university’s growing international student population. Outcomes from this included a pre-orientation program for international students called Ignite, as well as investment in iCent, an app to provide new international students with information about their move to McMaster.
Other plans for this year include the recruitment of a Student Success Coach and an Immigration consultant. According to Gina Robinson, director of the Student Success Centre and assistant dean, these changes will come in addition to existing programs relating to “life on campus, building connections, getting to know our Hamilton community, and celebrating culture and educating students on life in Canada.”
Additionally, the McMaster International and Exchange Club is a student run-initiative that connects incoming and outgoing international and exchange students. For Tom Johnston, an exchange student from Australia, MIX was a good way to get involved, meet people, and become a part of student life.
Mental Health
While these programs are helpful to some, other international students experience additional barriers that can prevent them from accessing the support available. Daidone, a McMaster alum from Brazil, emphasizes that mental health issues can make it difficult to get involved and seek out support.
Daidone points out that international students lose their support systems when they come to Canada.
“People come here from another country, by themselves. […], at home, you have more support, or family support, and more actual resources,” she said.
The 2017 OUSA Policy Recommendations notes that the rise of mental health issues is of particular concern for international students due to issues with integration and adjustment.
Additionally, while international students are automatically enrolled into the University Health Insurance Plan, they cannot enroll into the Ontario Health Plan. While OHIP covers psychiatric care, UHIP does not, meaning that international students have to pay out of pocket in order to access coverage.
The OUSA Policy Recommendations emphasize the importance of providing “high-quality mental health supports that are culturally appropriate and sensitive to the needs of international students”. Currently, the Student Wellness Centre does not offer mental health support specifically catered to international students.
The experiences of international students can vary drastically. Coming to McMaster can be an exciting way to meet new people, gain new experiences and seek new opportunities. However, many international students still face problems due to immigration policy, tuition deregulation, social prejudice and language limitations.
In the years to come, it remains to be seen how provincial government policy, university administrative decisions, and support services will work together to influence the experiences of the steadily growing international student population.
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As of Sept. 1 2018, international PhD students will be charged the same tuition fees as domestic PhD students. Nevertheless, the take-home pay for international students will remain the same.
In September 2017, only domestic PhD students were eligible for funding by the province. However, in October, this changed as the provincial government released part of its internationalization strategy in a letter to Ontario universities. The letter highlighted the Ontario government’s commitment to increasing support for international PhD students in the province.
Driving the government’s change was the fact that an insufficient number of domestic students entered Ontario PhD programs in the years prior. According to Doug Welch, vice-provost and dean of graduate studies at McMaster, last year, of the 6,000 PhD spots available, only 2,400 were filled.
“From both the university and province’s point of view, this was unfortunate,” said Welch. “They very much felt, and still feel, that graduate work actually has a strong benefit for the economy in terms of making the knowledge base better and government function better.”
Welch praises the Ontario government’s efforts to attract international PhD students to universities in the province.
“A lot of this talent comes here, stays here, and contributes to the economy,” he said.
Approximately 50 per cent of international students who enrol as PhD students at Ontario universities become permanent residents and Canadian citizens.
“Ontario needs to be competitive in its ability to attract highly qualified students from around the world to its PhD programs,” read part of the letter to Ontario universities.
Most Ontario universities can now use up to 10 per cent of PhD allocations to fund international PhD students. Because McMaster University meets five out of six research intensity criteria, it can allot up to 15 per cent.
Welch, however, doubts that the full 15 per cent will need to be used.
“We attract very strong domestic students, and I think we’ll continue to do so,” he said.
In the past, international tuition prices were not regulated by the province. As a result, tuition between domestic and international students experienced increasing polarization.
However, the university has provided financial support for international students. Some avenues include teaching assistantships, research grants and funds from faculties. In a few cases, these offset the difference between domestic and international tuition fees entirely.
Moreover, in the past, departments would receive $5,000 to $10,000 for each international student and be asked to make up the difference.
“Since we’re a research university and we pride ourselves on having an excellent research environment, we’re basically taxing ourselves for improving research intensity by having researchers find someone who may be the best candidate to any applicant in their particular research,” said Welch.
Welch explains that in the wake of the tuition change, international PhD students will not be able to take home more money.
“Effective Sept. 1, students will not be getting an extra $10,000 in their pays,” he said. “Because we’ve supported that difference in the past, they’re still going to have the same take-home pay after tuition.”
As a result, the tuition change may not significantly improve the affordability of McMaster’s postgraduate education.
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In the wake of increased provincial government funding aimed at attracting international PhD students, Ontario universities including the University of Toronto and Brock University have lowered tuition prices for graduate students from abroad.
In Jan. 2018, the University of Toronto announced that, come Sept., international students will pay the same prices as domestic students. A month later, Brock University scrapped international PhD student fees entirely.
These policy changes come in the wake of improved Ontario government funding for international PhD students.
According to an article published in The Globe and Mail on Feb. 8, in Oct. 2017, the Ontario government modified the structure of the grant it provides to Ontario universities, ensuring that 10 to 15 per cent would be allotted to international students.
The number is 15 per cent at McMaster.
When asked if the university has plans to lower PhD tuition costs for international students in the wake of these changes, Patrick Deane said that McMaster is in the early stages of exploring a fee structure that is similar to the one being implemented at the University Toronto.
“Work is underway on this and Doug Welch [dean of graduate studies] will follow up once McMaster’s plans are further developed,” said Deane.
Currently, McMaster international PhD students pay an average of $16,761 to $17,096 in tuition fees, which is approximately $10,000 more than what domestic students pay.
After four years of a PhD program at McMaster, costs can add up to $70,000 for international students. This approximation, however, does not account for mandatory supplementary fees, such as health insurance, and the costs of housing, textbooks, food and other services.
McMaster will continue to work on their own international PhD student fee structure and students may expect a change in the coming future.
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By: Sabrina Lin
When it comes to university, money is constantly on everyone’s mind.Tuition fees represent a real financial burden for most students at post-secondary institutions like McMaster.
Although the Student Financial Aid & Scholarships office offers relief for this financial strain, recent statistics indicate that only a small percentage of the student population is taking advantage of these pertinent financial resources.
“In the 2015-2016 school year, more than 8,000 students applied for university in-course aid and scholarships using the online aid application,” said Leanne Ruiz, Assistant Registrar of the SFAS. For a school with 22,600 full-time undergraduate students, this represents just over 35 percent of the student population.
While 13,800 students did apply for the Ontario Student Assistance Program in the same year, the question that arises concerns the accessibility of McMaster-specific financial aid and scholarships to students on campus.
“I did look for financial aid and scholarships when I first came to Mac,” said Shaya Zhang, a second-year Life Sciences student. “Unfortunately, there was very little advertisement about it around the school, so it was a bit difficult to find.”
“I don’t believe they advertise enough. I only heard about financial aid through a post on the McMaster 2020 Facebook page, and individual posts easily get lost due to the volume of new posts every day,” said Kathryn Chen, a first-year student in the Health Sciences program.
“Although I saw a link for ‘Financial Aid’ on Mosaic, I don’t remember receiving any advertisements directly from the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. I feel they should advertise more in order to make this money more accessible for students who need and deserve it.”
In the SFAS office, Ruiz maintains that there are advertisements informing students of her office’s work.
“We recently did a whole campaign to educate students about the online aid application and openings for a variety of different awards,” she said. “We were down in the student centre right outside Starbucks on Oct. 17 and helped students complete their online aid profile on Mosaic.”
In addition, Ruiz says that the SFAS office sends out e-cards to students, puts notices on the Mosaic portal, uses the MBA bulletin for graduate students, and places advertisements on TV monitors around campus.
“I think it’s the students’ responsibility to look for this kind of stuff, but at the same time, it also should be a little bit more advertised,” said second-year Engineering student Kelly Ng. Like many others, she eventually found the financial resources she sought after searching online and applying through Mosaic.
“I think students need to make sure that they’re educated about their finances. Although they’re coming to school mainly for the academics, they need to try to be resourceful and learn to take care of their finances,” said Ruiz. “I encourage everyone to do the online aid application and do the OSAP. You may not be needing a loan, but you can waive the loan and only get grants.”
In the 2015/2016 school year, McMaster University provided students with a total of $2.4 million in in-course and graduand scholarships.
This letter was written in response to "Tuition advocacy comes to fruition" by Rachel Katz in our March 3, 2016 issue.
Recent news of Ontario's new budget was expected to be met with jubilation across post-secondary school campuses due to plans for free tuition. As Rachel Katz's story in The Silhouette reports, “for long-term advocates of affordable tuition (this) marks a significant victory”. Except that this is really not a victory at all for those of us who are actually studying at a university or college right now, and this fact seems lost on the news media, as well as many students who haven't yet realized the implications.
Rather than lamenting that full tuition will not be provided for those in more expensive programs, the emphasis here should be on the fact that those already burdened with crippling student loans, and those about to graduate by next year, got absolutely nothing from the Liberals. After all, the whole point of lowered tuition is to reduce student debt. Yet the message we got was that only those low-income families and individuals who will be in school from 2017 onward matter. Why this is the case, and how no one in government didn't see the gross inequality, is a mystery. Put into perspective, many people finishing a standard four year degree next year will have accumulated approximately $30,000 owing after graduation, while their counterparts entering university during the 2017-2018 school year will finish with only about half that amount to pay back as a loan.
Perhaps there should be a push now to reduce the overall debt of current and past students still struggling with these obligations. A lifetime cap, as has been suggested previously by some, of $20,000 total would be a nice start. After all, we also have tuition tax credits which could be put toward that purpose. What we have now is a two-tier system, where in ten years time one generation of grads will have huge loans to still pay off while their younger cohorts enjoy a huge head start in life. In a country which constantly screams about equality, this oversight is truly appalling and mind-boggling.
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The end of reading week and the return to midterms and papers is never pleasant. However, the end of first week back from the break for Ontario universities was punctuated with a surprise from the provincial government. With the release of the budget for the upcoming year, the province introduced a free tuition policy for low-income students.
According to the budget, students from families with a collective annual income of $50,000 or less are entitled to a grant that covers the average cost of tuition in Ontario. “If you're a student coming from a low-income family and you're paying average or below-average tuition, that's where that free tuition designation comes from,” explained Spencer Nestico-Semianiw, VP (Education) of the MSU, and President of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance. For university students, that grant is worth a little over $6,000 a year while college students will see a grant of around $2,000.
The money required to fund this initiative is already being used within the postsecondary education sector. The government is repurposing several smaller grants, including the Ontario Student Opportunity Grant, the Ontario Student Access Grant and the 30 percent off tuition grant. However, the majority of the funding comes from the elimination of the tuition and education tax credit, something OUSA has advocated for over the course of the last decade.
“That was something that we are absolutely ecstatic about because we're now using the money that was previously used for tax credits, which wasn't up-front, it was going more towards higher-income families and students who didn't need it and so now the money's being repackaged and put into the hands of students who need it most,” said Nestico-Semianiw.
For long-term advocates of affordable tuition, the new budget marks a significant victory.
“These were recommendations that OUSA has clearly had in our policy papers for a number of years and we've seen a large number of those recommendations in this budget … For any student that was benefitting under the 30 percent off tuition grant previously, they are still going to be receiving at least the same amount of money now and the students who need it the most are going to be benefitting even more,” explained Nestico-Semianiw. He added that the OUSA’s advocacy week in December launched a renewed interest in discussing tuition in the province.
Despite the perks, the free tuition plan has left many skeptical. Some articles published misleading headlines implying the total erasure of tuition, and others raised the concern that the constant inflation of tuition means that the $6,000 calculation will likely be inaccurate just a few years into the future. The calculation of the grant also only considers the base price of tuition. Universities and colleges require students to pay mandatory fees beyond the cost of classes, including books, student union membership fees and living expenses.
Additionally, the new grant is calculated based on the average tuition for students in general arts and science programs, meaning thousands of students, such as those in engineering programs whose parents make less than $50,000, might still have to cover some of their own tuition depending on the amount of money they are granted.
“These were recommendations that OUSA has clearly had in our policy papers for a number of years and we've seen a large number of those recommendations in this budget."
Despite the concerns that have been raised, Nestico-Semianiw stressed his excitement over the policy changes. “To be completely frank they're absolutely fantastic,” he said. “Obviously [OUSA is] going to continue working with the government to make sure that tuition is affordable for students and that it doesn't outpace what we've seen in this budget … [but] I'm optimistic that we'll be able to work so that the next tuition framework doesn't lessen the impact of these changes but that's a conversation that still has to happen.”
While the new tuition policy is something for OUSA to be proud of, work remains to be done. The organization is currently occupied with helping the Ontario government finalize the specifics of the new grant. This will be followed up by more work on the new tuition framework, a task OUSA began to work on in January — a letter-writing campaign asking for a tuition freeze was one of their first advocacy efforts related to the framework.
For his part, Nestico-Semianiw thinks these are positive changes and hopes that his successors in the organization will continue to advocate for affordable tuition. “I think this opens up another very good conversation, but I think the next student executive will have to have those conversations too.”
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Students across the province may soon have a little more change in their pockets. On Jan. 11, a letter-writing campaign was launched by the MSU and other schools belonging to the Ontario University Student Alliance with the aim of convincing the Ontario government to fund a five-year tuition freeze.
TimeOut Tuition is the actualization of MSU President Ehima Osazuwa’s much-discussed tuition platform point, an issue whose solution students have been waiting to see come to fruition.
“Tuition and financial aid and affordability has been a priority for the MSU this year, and one of the biggest things we wanted to do was galvanize a lot of student support behind ideas like a tuition freeze for the next tuition framework,” explained Spencer Nestico-Semianiw, VP (Education).
He hopes the letter-writing campaign will help gain much of this support. The letter itself succinctly explains the main concerns OUSA-affiliated schools have with the steady increase in tuition, namely the unsustainable nature of the increase and the serious financial burden tuition and debt place on students. Nestico-Semianiw hopes that students relate to the issues identified in the letter, and welcomes any who wish to write their own personal notes.
Nestico-Semianiw’s goal is to send a package of 1,000 signed letters to Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Ministries of Training Colleges and Universities and Finance. “What we’re urging the government to do is reallocate some money that’s already in the sector, specifically the tuition and education tax credits to fund a fully-funded tuition freeze,” he said. This means that not only will tuition remain stable for the duration of the freeze, but that it will be funded by the government to ensure Ontario and Canada at large remain competitive in the academic world.
“If next year’s teams don’t make this [advocacy] as big of a priority, then it’s going to be very easy for this conversation to be lost in the next framework.”
Nestico-Semianiw was quick to admit the freeze comes at a high price. It would cost the province around $106 million. The MSU and its OUSA colleagues are asking that this be replaced with money from the $340 million the government spends on post-secondary education tax credits. He explained that the issue with these tax credits is that they are not distributed in an equitable manner. Lower income families claim around one fourth the amount that higher income families do because they pay less taxes.
Another issue with the way tax credits are distributed is that none of the money is available to students or their families upfront. “It’s something you only get back after you’ve completed a year or two years or you might not receive the benefit for half a decade,” Nestico-Semianiw said.
If the letter-writing campaign is successful, the Ontario government will freeze tuition rates for five years, following the expiration of the current framework in 2017. Without this constant hike in tuition, a first-year student in the 2017-18 school year would hypothetically save approximately a total of $750 over the course of their four-year undergraduate program during the freeze. Students in a five-year program would save closer to $1,000.
While he anticipates a successful outcome for the campaign, Nestico-Semianiw acknowledges TimeOut Tuition is only the beginning of a surge of advocacy for lower tuition in Ontario. He expressed confidence in the soon-to-be-announced MSU presidential candidates, many of whom are eager to work on this project as well. “If next year’s teams don’t make this [advocacy] as big of a priority, then it’s going to be very easy for this conversation to be lost in the next framework if students aren’t at the forefront of that,” he said.
The MSU hopes to gain support for TimeOut Tuition not just from students, but from politicians, community members and even the university. “It’s definitely student-centered and student-run, but we want to show that these are ideas [others] all get behind,” Nestico-Semianiw explained. As of Jan. 12, the campaign had received just over 400 signed letters, including one from Hamilton Ward 1 councilor Aidan Johnson.
Photo Credit: Jon White/Photo Editor
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MSU President Ehima Osazuwa’s phenomenally successful campaign last year was largely built on a distinctly ambitious platform. One of its most controversial points was a promise to address the issue of increasing tuition and student expenses. His ability to tackle a post-secondary policy giant during a one-year long mandate was met with much skepticism.
In 2015, the average tuition of Canadian universities saw a 3.2 percent increase to $6,191, an increase of more than double the rate of inflation. The province will spend about $7.8 billion dollars across its post-secondary and training sector, just under six percent of the total budget for the 2015-16 year.
Now well into his term, Osazuwa along with a Tuition Task Force and members of the Board of Directors, are tackling these issues through a number of specific initiatives within the MSU and with its partners.
The provincial government’s current tuition framework, which outlines the post-secondary education funding model, is set to expire in 2017 and the government has launched consultations on “modernizing” the funding formula. With the province running a deficit and a projected decrease in post-secondary enrollment, the government could easily look to students to bear most of the financial burden. For the MSU and fellow Ontarian student unions, the 2016-17 school year is a crucial period to develop tuition advocacy strategies.
The new policy paper seeks to outline a more detailed, extensive, and long-term policy to represent the MSU’s views on tuition. The recently passed Tuition Policy includes a number of requests, principles and goals, and is set to be finalized in on-going SRA meetings.
The paper calls for the implementation of a tuition freeze until the federal or provincial government is able to contribute “one dollar for each dollar of student contribution.” The paper argues that as tuition outpaces the rate of inflation and the median household income, the current framework needs to see more investment from the government or at the very least, a cap on the increase of tuition in accordance to inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index. The document stresses the need for more regulation in the face of rising student debt.
“While the topic of tuition may appear divisive, the MSU believes strongly in the ability of dialogue and competing interests and protects students from cumbersome and inaccessible student debt,” declares the current draft of the policy paper. Despite its stated desire to accommodate for the diverse views on tuition issues, it does not shy away from arguing for specific tuition frameworks.
The paper includes long-term recommendations, including that “the government should create a strategy to adopt a publicly funded, no upfront tuition model.” The document cites “The OUSA Paper on Alternate Cost Recovery Models,” which describes the system of deferred tuition based in Australia and New Zealand. These models allow students to delay their tuition payments until their graduation, as well as offering several financial assistance programs. In Australia, the upfront tuition model also gives a 20 percent discount to students who choose not to defer tuition.
In addition to defining the MSU’s stance on these issues, the policy paper also alludes to some of the current projects that the student government is currently undertaking.
Over the past month, Osazuwa and VP (Education) Spencer Nestico-Semianiw have met with the university’s Board of Governors to present a number of requests. These include the desire to increase the amount of needs-based scholarships, which recognizes the effects financial strain can have on the academic performance required to earn merit-based scholarships. “I’d like to see some of that funding come from the four million dollars McMaster uses for merit-based scholarships,” explained Nestico. “I think that merit based scholarships are quite inequitable, so using that funding into needs-based would better target students who actually need the money.”
To increase transparency, the MSU is also pushing for an activity-based funding model, which more easily allows students to understand what exactly their tuition is being used for in the university. Osazuwa believes this to be an easy change to implement. It will also be accompanied by a Tuition 101 information campaign, and a letter writing campaign directed to the provincial government in the next term.
Osazuwa thinks that one of the MSU’s most important requests to the University is the removal of interest on late tuition payments, most often forced on students who rely on OSAP. This will likely be the most difficult request to negotiate and implement with the university, but Osazuwa wants to achieve it before the end of his term.
In addition to on-campus advocacy campaigns, the MSU has already introduced an emergency bursary for students in need of up to $500. The $8,000 budget allocated to the bursary program was quickly exhausted after its introduction in September, and by the end of the month, the MSU gave out approximately $12,000. The additional funds were drawn from saved money from other budget lines.
Vice President (Finance) Daniel D’Angela explained that the MSU is looking to revise the program, and is considering alternative sources of funding to sustain it. So far, no definite changes have been made. D’Angela said that the MSU is not looking to make the requirements for the bursary stricter, but noted that the emergency bursary is not a sustainable solution.
“I think our main goal is to provide the assistance that we’re doing through systems that we can but then work on issues to ensure that no student needs a bursary or needs an emergency bursary. I think that’s what the MSU’s goal is and what its responsibility should be. We can do some of the small things like that but I don’t think we should be just taking a lot of money from one set of students and just giving it to another,” said D’Angela.
While Osazuwa noted that the Board of Governors was receptive to some of the recommendations and initiatives the MSU is seeking to promote, the Board’s decision-making powers are limited. McMaster’s Chief Financial Officer Deidre Henne will discuss these requests with the Board of Directors, and is impressed with their initiatives and ideas so far.
Henne explained that currently the university gets the majority of its operating budget from tuition and grants. The province is in a deficit, and looking to change the way they provide operating grants, while the MSU and other student unions and advocacy groups are hoping to fight the increase in tuition.
“There’s a real opportunity for student bodies now, at the same time that the government is looking to change the funding model in 2017, to speak with government and make sure that the province understands, not just from a University perspective … but more importantly from a student perspective of what is important to them,” explained Henne.
The Board of Directors met with Henne this week, and discussed the MSU’s requests in relation to her role on the Council of Ontario Universities, and on the technical advisory committee to the Ministry of Education’s financing model.
In response to Osazuwa’s personal goal to end interest fees on late tuition payments, Henne stated, “I’m going to say it’s difficult, and that’s just the truth of it because we want to collect tuition fees as early in the process as possible for the overall financing and budgeting of the university.”
The university’s current financial system runs with the assumption that it will operate with most of its money paid on time. If payments were to arrive later in the term, the university would have to seek assistance from a lending facility to cover the first few months of operation.
For the hope of implementing a province-wide tuition freeze, Henne says that it has to accommodate declining enrollment and deficit issues Ontario is facing. Henne suggested, “what Ehima could do, is take his tuition request for zero percent increase and request the gap from the enrollment gap to be redirected as a supplement for this lack of tuition increase. It’s yet another alternative in the mixed pileup of complexities. It’s a lofty goal and I admire Ehima for taking it on. I feel his group has a lot of capability.”
The MSU has put student tuition and debt at the forefront of its priorities this year, following Osazuwa’s landslide win. However, with his term coming to an end and a new presidential election on the horizon, the state of affordable tuition advocacy as a long-term priority for the MSU remains to be seen.
With the Ontario government seeking input on the future of its funding formula, this is an opportune time for the MSU to be active in the tuition conversation. Osazuwa believes that both the student union and the University are interested in discussing student financial issues and stressed the need for collaboration between all stakeholders.
“We can run campaigns, we can have emergency bursaries, we can have our tuition policy paper but, at the end of the day, the best we can do is continue to lobby to the university and I think the university’s receptive to the idea of a more affordable tuition. We can’t change the price of tuition just by ourselves.”
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By: Diane Doran
Imagine this. You decide to go to grad school. You save up so you can afford tuition, or maybe take out another loan. You juggle courses, TA work, and your own research. You work hard to meet everyone’s expectations. Sometimes you sacrifice your sleep, or your health, or your relationships. You live on a sub-standard wage. You lock yourself away for weeks to write your thesis; if you don’t submit it by the deadline, you’ll be charged for another semester of tuition. You break down at least twice, but you keep going, and one day, against all odds, that sucker looks just about finished. You prepare for your defense and spend the whole night before thinking about the questions you might be asked rather than sleeping. You pass! Only minor revisions. Almost there. You sign all the paperwork. You go back, you make the edits. You make sure you’ve formatted it just the way the university requires. So close. Now all you need to do is submit it to the School of Graduate Studies, but McMaster University has one last nasty surprise left for you: it’s going to cost you.
In order to graduate, you must submit an electronic copy of your thesis to SGS, and in order to do so you must pay exactly $40. Apparently, the thousands of dollars that I paid in tuition and student fees only cover my education — graduation not included.
No, unfortunately, this is not a Monty Python sketch, this is the perennial farce that is McMaster University administration. The mysterious “library and archiving fee,” of which no description can be found, is the final frontier between you and your degree, and it comes as a shock to most graduate students. It’s like buying an airline ticket, getting on the plane, and then being asked to pay a “descent and landing fee” while you’re cruising at 39,000 feet.
Now just to be clear, I am not kicking up such a gigantic fuss just because I now have 40 fewer dollars in my bank account. On vacation, I once spent $20 on a paper puppet in the shape of Spongebob Squarepants that the vendor convinced me would dance on its own when placed next to a stereo. It did not. And yet I’m not nearly as angry about that.
It’s the principle. If publishing your thesis on MacSphere were optional, you’d hear no complaints from this girl. I chose to pay tuition, because I decided I wanted an education. But I had no choice but to pay this fee, if I wanted anything to show for it.
The ransom on your diploma is set at $40, which most of us could probably begrudgingly afford; but not unlike the profits of criminal extortion, the use to which these funds will be put is not at all transparent. McMaster’s policy is for all theses to be uploaded to MacSphere on their library website, where they are searchable and can be accessed by a wider audience. Which is great, but I am profoundly confused as to what part of that is costing us each $40.
Am I paying for an administrative assistant to open my PDF file and drag and drop it onto the website? Am I paying for a tiny amount of space on a server until the end of time, which has been calculated to amount to exactly $40? Until SGS decides to respond to my recent tweet, we’ll never know. More likely, I’m helping to repay the overhead costs of McMaster deciding to invest in new software or platforms, and so are you, because they know, of course, that you’re not leaving without that diploma.
Now, I’m not a totally unreasonable person. If a gym invests in new equipment and a sauna, they have the right to start charging a bit more for membership. That’s how business works, and McMaster University is a business like any other. I understand that. But even if SGS manages to convince me that the “library and archiving fee” is legitimate, why on earth is the fee not included with tuition and student fees at the beginning of the year? Nobody starts a degree thinking “who knows, I might even graduate!” Why is that not part of the deal?
SGS, I believe I speak for disgruntled grads across this campus when I ask you please, don’t wait to trip us right before the finish line.
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On Thursday, Sept. 17, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance visited the McMaster campus as part of their larger promotional efforts in member schools across the province.
OUSA’s visit to campus gave The Silhouette a chance to discuss its priorities for the year with Spencer Nestico-Semianiw, VP (Education) of the MSU and OUSA’s president, and Sean Madden, the organization’s Executive Director.
Every year, OUSA releases policy papers on six post-secondary education topics in Ontario that dictate the organization’s lobbying and advocacy on the specific issues. For the 2015-16 year, OUSA will focus on teaching assessment and student success.
However, OUSA’s priorities this year extend beyond the annual policy papers. In addition to the policy papers, the organization’s research and advocacy efforts will also be put into the timely topics of university funding and the province’s tuition framework.
Last month, OUSA released its submission on the university funding formula for the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. The MTCU launched consultations on modernizing the formula in May 2015.
The funding formula determines how the provincial government distributes funding to individual universities.
Among other recommendations, OUSA’s submission criticizes the current formula for ignoring demographic shifts, failing to enhance differentiation and not reflecting true relative costs of education.
Speaking to the true cost of education, Semianiw believes that the province’s basic income units– which reflect the idea that the cost of educating different students in different programs varies– are out of date.
“A lot of the changes that we’ve seen in terms of how programs are getting funded isn’t so much reflective of the actual cost of the program,” said Semianiw.
“Institutions on an individual basis have found ways to transfer funds and make sure it’s working but from a provincial standpoint, that system needs to be re-evaluated.”
OUSA is also advocating for a higher proportion of the funding given to universities reserved for specific initiatives that enhance student life.
“I don’t want to throw any of the fine people who run universities under the bus, but it’s kind of no coincidence that the amount of money that’s spent on salaries and benefits is pretty much exactly the amount of money that the government doesn’t strictly set aside for other purposes,” said Madden.
“We want to add a little more accountability and transparency and limit the proportions that are unrestricted without being unreasonable.”
Madden noted that the current funding formula erroneously rewards enrolment growth, when in fact, the province has reached its peak enrolment rates and many universities are and will continue to be under-enrolled according to the principle.
Overall, like the province, OUSA wants to see a funding formula that is up to date with current demands and focuses on bettering the student experience.
The conversation on the province’s tuition framework, however, has not officially begun. The framework is due to be reviewed in the 2016-17 academic year, but Semianiw is attempting to lay the groundwork for the topic during his yearlong mandate.
“Universities are allowed to increase tuition three percent on average [per year] per institution. Five percent for some programs. We want to see a fully funded freeze. We don’t want to see tuition keep increasing for students,” said Semianiw.
Madden says that the results of the funding formula consultation will have a direct impact on the tuition framework conversation.
“The funding formula is going to control the way funding flows. If it magically it gets more efficient, we can make an argument for lower tuition. If it constrains the amount of flexible money they have, then that’s going to impact their costs.”
Photo Credit: Spencer Nestico-Semianiw
