KAMLOOPS – The Board of Governors has made a strong commitment to keeping post-secondary education affordable for students at UCC by proposing a tuition fee plan that would see no increase at all this year for some students and a minimal increase for others.
A Notice of Motion on a tuition fees from the Board proposes an overall average increase of just 5%, effective in September, 2004. The UCC Board has already mandated a 0% increase for all fees through the first five months of the year , including the upcoming Summer Session that begins in May.
The proposed tuition fee increase is made up of two components:
1) NO increase (0%) for students in two-year Career and Technology diploma programs, one-year certificate programs, trade-entry and apprenticeship training programs, and all student development and college preparation programs. The 0% increase will benefit some 4,000 students in over 50 different one- and two-year programs offered at UCC today.
There will also be no increase in tuition fees for international students in the 2004-2005 academic year.
2) An increase of 7% for students in undergraduate university degree programs. In real dollars, the increase amounts to $21 per academic course.
By holding the line on tuition fee increases, the Board has made UCC one of the most affordable undergraduate university programs in the country today. By comparisom, students at another University College have been told they could face increases ranging from $87 to $159 per university course this fall. For a fulltime student in a science degree program, it would mean a savings of some $1,000 in tuition and student fees by choosing UCC.
The motion will be considered by the Board at the Public Meeting on Friday, April 16, 2004. Approval of tuition fees is the next important step in the overall budget planning process, which is not expected to be competed until at least June.
