It’s that time of year again. All over the province OSAP applications are flowing in, students are trying to make the most they possibly can in their last few weeks of co-op or summer employment, and we’re all asking ourselves how we’ll fund our next year of academic pursuits.
We all know tuition is a major source of financial stress for Ontario’s undergraduate student population; over 60 per cent of Canadian students indicate that they are concerned about their ability to pay for post-secondary education. However, what is often not discussed is the reality that not all tuition payment processes are created equal. There are two general models for which institutions charge tuition: per-credit and flat fee.
In a per-credit model, students are charged tuition based on the number of credit courses they are enrolled in. For example, a student taking a full load of five courses might be charged $5,000, while a part-time student taking two credits would be charged $2,000. This model is intuitively fair, as it charges students a fee reflective of their course load.
Students should not be asked to pay for an education they do not receive, but unfortunately this is the case under the flat fee tuition model, variation of which are in effect at ten of Ontario’s universities. Under the flat fee tuition model, students who take credits over a certain threshold are charged a standard full-time rate. This means that a student who is enrolled in three courses could potentially pay the same amount as a student enrolled in six courses. This model is most damaging to students who are already struggling financially, such as those who are working during their studies to pay for school or those with dependants. Students who opt not to take a full course load often do so for legitimate reasons. For instance, it is known that the majority of students with dependent children under the age of five study part-time. Flat fee tuition forces part-time students near the threshold to choose between paying full fees and decreasing their commitment to their education. The situation at the University of Toronto is particularly dire, as the threshold for paying full fees is 60 per cent, the same as the cut-off for OSAP eligibility. Students must choose between forgoing their financial assistance and paying full tuition fees.
There is also another type of payment process that is of concerns to students, what many call differential per-credit tuition. This refers to a flat fee on the price of credits themselves, meaning that across faculties, students pay different fees for the same credit. For example, at the University of Waterloo, students in the faculty of engineering are charged higher tuition fee as a professional program, while most students in each of the other five faculties pay lower fees. When these students take the same class though, the credit charge does not change. For example, a first year arts student and a first year engineering student could be sitting beside one another in an ethics class. The arts student has paid $611 for the individual course while the engineer has paid $1,121. The two students are obviously learning exactly the same thing! The value of what is taught in that class is no different, and it did not cost the institution more to teach the engineering student about ethics than it did the arts student. This model has significant adverse impact on the students in these programs, including course overloading which contributes to both mental health and retention issues.
Why is this possible? The Ontario government regulates the percentage by which tuition fees can increase, but it does not regulate how and when institutions can charge these fees. The province provides their funding to the institutions on a per-credit basis, but does not currently require that institutions charge their students under the same model.
OUSA believes that all tuition in Ontario should be charged on a per-credit or value-received basis, and all credits within a program must have similar financial impact. That means that no student should pay either flat fee or differential tuition. The tuition framework was put in place to protect students from exorbitant fee increases. It is a natural extension then to include regulations in the new framework that ensure institutions cannot collect more from students through unfair changes to the payment process.
-Natalie Cockburn
Vice President Finance, OUSA
Vice President Education, Federation of Students at the University of Waterloo
