Students’ union calls for tuition freeze as hike looms

University students in Manitoba are bracing for a tuition hike in the coming year. CTV’s Jeff Keele explains.

University students are bracing for a jump in tuition.

Daneca Bulay-Og’s tuition is around $7,000. The first-year University of Manitoba student says making ends meet is already a challenge with rising costs.

“I know a lot of students who struggle with that; they certainly have to support themselves by having multiple jobs,” said Bulay-Og.

Now her tuition may be going up too.

“It hurts some of my plans, especially since I do want to go on exchange,” said Bulay-Og. “So I’m just kind of dipping into other avenues.”

The province is allowing universities to raise tuition by up to four per cent, and the U of M is proposing to hike its fees to that maximum.

The University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU) held an event Thursday, calling on the province to increase funding to post-secondary institutions and on the university to freeze tuition rates. One participant went further, urging the school to cut administrative salaries to help cover the cost.

Heaven Kaur, UMSU’s vice-president of university affairs, was among the speakers.

“Why are we being treated like revenue-making machines?” said Kaur. “When tuition rises, the barriers also rise with it.”

The university, however, says it is facing significant inflationary pressures of its own. Diane Hiebert-Murphy, provost and vice-president (academic) at the U of M, says costs are growing faster than revenue.

She pointed to the federal cap on international students as one of the biggest factors, noting a 40 per cent drop in first-year enrolments from that group.

“International students pay closer to the cost of their education than our domestic students do, and we’ve been highly reliant on that tuition to help fund the cost of our programs,” said Hiebert-Murphy.

Renée Cable, Manitoba’s minister of advanced education and training, also acknowledged the significant impact of the federal cap while highlighting the province’s two per cent increase to the school’s operating funding this year.

“Since we’ve come into government, we’ve ensured that there is stable, predictable funding for post-secondary institutions,” said Cable. “We’ve enhanced scholarships and bursaries.”

A final decision on the tuition hike is set for April 16.