Advocacy Update: Tuition and Fee Increase Vote at the Board of Governors meeting

[January 20, 2023]

As many of you know, the Board of Governors of the University of Calgary met this afternoon to deliberate, and vote on, the proposed tuition and fee increases.

For those who aren’t aware, the Board of Governors is made up of twenty-three members: four (including the President and Chancellor) from the university administration, three are student representatives (two from the SU, and Saaka, your GSA President), one from the Faculty Association, one from the Alberta Union of Public Employees (AUPE), two from the Alumni Association, and twelve members appointed by the provincial government.

Despite the concerns Saaka and Nicole, the SU President, shared to the Board, the tuition and fee increases unfortunately passed. Saaka, Nicole, the SU’s Member at Large, and the AUPE all voted “no” to the increases, one abstained, and the rest of voting Board members said “yes.” They listened to the concerns that you, our members, shared with us about affordability and financial insecurity, and about the quality of your educational experience and the trade-offs you’ll be forced to make. They also heard your complaints about the “consultation” or lack of student consultation process. But those weren’t enough to move the other Board members to vote down the proposal.

We’re disappointed by this, but this means the GSA will be now shifting its focus.

The root cause of the tuition and fee increases are the drastic cuts the Government of Alberta has made to post-secondary institutions over the past four years. Hundreds of millions of dollars in funding have been lost at the University of Calgary alone, and the university believes it has little choice but to make up this deficit on the backs of students. While we disagree with this reasoning, and we know that the university would have a better understanding of potential alternatives if they meaningfully consulted with graduate or undergraduate students, we also know that the tuition increases would not be nearly as dramatic if the provincial government was funding post-secondary education as much as they had even a decade ago.

Our next moves, then, are to ensure that post-secondary issues—including graduate student issues—are a part of the political discussion as we move towards the next provincial election. We want every political party that’s vying for a seat in the Alberta Legislature to know that graduate students are struggling; that we’re not pinatas that can be struck whenever the government or university needs some extra few bucks for their budgets; and that the work we do as researchers, teaching assistants, volunteers, and so on are essential parts of Albertan prosperity.

We want that information to be communicated LOUD and clear to voters and to candidates, and we need your help to make that happen.

Your feedback—your advocacy during the Graduate Representative Council meeting, during the budget townhall, through social networks and more—helped us gain bursary funding from the university. That ask wasn’t a part of the Provost’s team’s initial tuition and fees proposal, but thanks to your voice and your support, we were able to get a commitment from the university to increase the base funding to the GSA bursary pool by $133,000 for next year, with annual increases every year after that. We couldn’t have done that without you, and so we’re asking that you’ll help us further spread the word that graduate students need support now.

We know that the increase in tuition and fees is going to create a lot of hardship for students, but we haven’t lost yet. If we work together, we can turn our collective voice towards Edmonton and demand that, whatever government is elected this year, they treat students as a valued part of Albertan society.

Thank you for the support you’ve already given us, and don’t give up the fight yet—because we sure haven’t.