York University offers tuition credits to students amid faculty strike

York students frustrated as strike enters 7th week Despite the promise of bursaries, students at York University say they just want the strike to end so they can finish their courses.

As the contract faculty strike at York University continues into its seventh week, the administration is offering students a number of tuition credit options to accommodate the academic disruption.

York University says that once the strike is over, students will have about four weeks to complete their suspended courses.

“However, we recognize that not all students will want, or will be in a position, to resume their courses after such a long disruption,” York University said in a release issued Thursday. “The university’s highest priority at this time is to help students resolve their current courses and move forward with their plans for the summer and beyond.”

According to the release, the university is allowing students to withdraw from their courses without financial repercussions.

As of April 30, any student who withdraws from a fall/winter 2017-18 or winter 2018 course will be able to retake the course without paying additional tuition. There will also be no penalties or notations on the students’ transcripts.

The deadline to withdraw from a course is Dec. 31, 2018 and students would have to complete the course before the end of 2019.

York is also offering bursary support up to $1500 for domestic and international students taking undergraduate courses. According to the release, the bursary is meant to help those “who have experienced extenuating financial circumstances during the disruption, including students who have had to make changes to their travel arrangements after March 5, 2018.”

York University will cancel one of their three summer terms to ensure that if the strike does end prior to April 30, students will have enough time to complete their winter courses prior to beginning summer classes.

If the strike continues past that date, additional summer terms will be cancelled.

York University published a list of tuition options for students on their website.

Striking workers rejected the university’s last contract offer earlier this month. The union has said that their main bargaining points focus on job security for part-time workers and a path to full-time tenured employment for contract faculty.

In a written statement issued after the last offer was rejected, university officials said they were “deeply disappointed” and were “reviewing next steps, which includes speaking to the government to propose options that would bring the two parties together to end the strike.”

The Ontario government has launched an industrial inquiry commission to look into the strike.

Workers have been off the job since March 5.