Raised and Confused: Retroactive Tuition Increases and the University of Waterloo

Students at the University of Waterloo have made a number of headlines recently for their frustration with the university over a retroactive tuition increase of three per cent, applied to students on June 4th. As one student commented: This is like if you were at a restaurant, you order a meal, and halfway through the meal the waiter tells you they've just updated the menu in that moment and your meal is now $10 more than the original listed price. Even Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Brad Duguid described the move as unfair, and a hard hit to students on a shoestring budget. So, what exactly happened? For all universities, tuition fees for the upcoming academic year are approved by their Board of Governors in and around early spring (March April). In most cases, this provides students enough notice for the cost of the academic year beginning with the summer semester. However, this past year the Government of Ontario considered the implementation of a new tuition framework, the deliberations for which were abnormally delayed due to an unexpected leadership and cabinet change in the Ontario Liberal Party. The framework was belatedly approved on March 28th, reducing the annual average tuition increases down to three per cent from the five per cent of the previous framework, also disrupting the traditional fee schedule approval at institutions. The Waterloo administration has stated that due to the late announcement of the new framework, the new fee schedule could not be formally approved until June 4th, which resulted in summer students receiving new charges worth three per cent of their total payment well after the original payment deadline of April 29th. Many students were understandably shocked by the new charge, especially because these charges were introduced after the 100 per cent refund deadline for the courses. The University has provided students 60 days to settle the new tuition balance on their student accounts before their payment status will be changed to Fees Owing. Students with a Fees Owing status on their student account will be unable to register for courses and access their grades or transcripts. Students are concerned that a 60 day payment deadline does not provide students, especially those experiencing comparatively large jumps in the cost of their tuition, adequate time to meet this tuition recalculation.
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In response to the fee recalculation, Waterloo students organized a protest for June 14th, gaining significant local media coverage. The University of Waterloo Federation of Students (Feds) also released a statement criticizing the actions of the university. OUSA was able to obtain emails sent by the University of Waterloo to students on this matter. Students were informed on Friday April 5th that, As a result of the new tuition framework issued March 28 by the Ontario government, your fees for the Spring term will be adjusted in June, pending Board of Governors approval. Its possible that some bursary funding will also need to be modified accordingly. Youll be notified at that time to check your account so you can make any additional payment required. Subsequent emails were sent out to students throughout the month of April. While the university cannot be accused of not informing students of the pending increase, it would appear that a large number of students did not get the intended message. This could be due to a number of contributing factors: unclear language, mass-email fatigue or simply the fact that these emails were sent out during a time when many students were preparing for exams. The Situation Across the Province In some media reports, it has been alleged that the University of Waterloo was the only university to apply the tuition increase retroactively. Since all universities in Ontario were subject to the new framework effective April 1, OUSA felt it would be worth ascertaining which terms universities applied to the tuition increase to. For universities who applied the three per cent increase to the spring term, how were students informed? Also, when were student accounts updated to reflect the increase? As it turns out, most universities increase tuition for the fall term, meaning that summer students were not impacted at all by the three per cent tuition increase. Due to the later start-date for their academic year, these universities would never have been in a position where they would have had to consider charging a mid-term tuition increase. For the seven universities that applied the tuition increase to the spring term (and responded to our survey), OUSA found that most charged the three per cent tuition increase after students had signed up for courses. Carleton, Laurentian and Western charged the increase at, or before the start of the Spring/Summer term. Queens, like Waterloo, charged the increase mid-term, on May 18th.
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University Algoma Brock Carleton Guelph Lakehead Laurentian Laurier McMaster Nipissing OCAD Ottawa Queen's Ryerson Toronto Trent UOIT Waterloo Western Windsor York Implementation term for the 3% tuition increase Fall Fall Spring Fall Fall Spring Fall Fall Fall Fall Fall Spring Fall Spring Fall Fall Spring Spring Spring Fall June 4th. April 24th n/a n/a May 18th May 1st May 1st. Date That Student Accounts Were Credited with a 3% Tuition Increase

At first glance, it would seem that Waterloo was not the only university to charge a mid-term fee increase. In fact, both Queens and Waterloo charged students a retroactive fee increase. However, Waterloo was the only university that required two full months to apply the increase. Most universities appeared to be able to apply the increase in time for the spring term. Interestingly, no university that charged the three per cent increase to students in the spring term was able to give students their final tuition balance during registration. With this in mind, no student studying during the summer at each of these seven universities would be able to say that
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they knew what the price of their meal was upon ordering, to use the vernacular of the Waterloo student above. Given that students at several universities had the predictability of their tuition billing negatively impacted by the late announcement of the tuition framework, it is curious that the only major negative reaction to this came from Waterloo. The likely explanation for this is that Waterloo has a relatively high number of students taking summer courses due to the implementation of co-op terms. Additionally, Waterloos announcement of the retroactive increase was significantly later than any other increase in the system. In conclusion, given the rising tuition pressures on students across the province it is important that students have a certain degree of predictability for their cost of education. The Governments decision to delay the announcement of the new tuition framework until late March sent many institutions scrambling to readjust their fee and budget planning processes. Nevertheless, in the case of Waterloo, despite the circumstances and attempts to communicate potential charges to students, it was concerning for OUSA to see new charges being enforced two months after the announcement of the framework. Moreover, from a student perspective, the additional charges of up to and over approximately $350 (for those taking a full course load) posed a significant disruption to the limited cash flow and financial planning of students, especially given that most of them have already exhausted their financial reserves during the previous academic year. Huzaifa Saeed and Chris Martin OUSA Summer Research Intern and Director of Research

345-26 Soho Street | Toronto, Ontario M5T 1Z7 | t. 416.341.9948 f. 416.341.0358