SU sets international student tuition policy

By Fabian Mayer, December 1 2015 —

Tuition for Albertan students may be frozen until 2017, but international student tuition isn’t included in that freeze.

The University of Calgary Students’ Union passed a policy on potential international student tuition increases last week. The policy outlines how the SU would advocate against such hikes.

SU vice-president operations and finance Sarah Pousette said they identified the policy gap last year.

“We really wanted to make our current market modifier policy a more inclusive one to include other loopholes,” Pousette said.

The new policy lays out guidelines on what the SU expects from the university, should it raise tuition on international students.

“[It outlines] how we would expect outside stakeholders to consult with us in terms of those types of changes,” Pousette said.

Numerous Canadian universities, including the University of Manitoba, University of Toronto and University of British Columbia, recently hiked tuition for international students. UBC’s increase of nearly 40 per cent over the next three years has caused controversy in recent weeks.

Pousette said the new policy was partially spurred by developments at other universities.

“This is kind of us making sure that if that comes up at U of C we’re prepared, we have a stance that we’ve taken,” Pousette said. “It gives a firm foundation for our advocacy efforts if something like this comes about.”

According to Pousette, she hasn’t heard anything from the university about potential increases to international student tuition.

“I don’t know what will happen, but we just want to make sure that we’re prepared and that we can represent all students’ interests,” Pousette said.

The provost’s office provided the following statement.

“The U of C will not be raising international tuition fees in the 2016/2017 academic year. This is the second year in a row that international fees have not gone up.”