As Memorial University grapples with reduced funding, a new report is recommending significant tuition increases.
The Integrated Planning Committee at MUN says the cost of courses will have to jump from $255 to $400. The study also suggests the per course cost for international students should be $1200.
Liam O’Neill is the Executive Director External Affairs with the Student’s Union.
O’Neill says “MUN has been put between a rock and a hard place by the provincial government.” He says it’s short-sighted, but comes as no surprise.”
Late last week the head of the Political Science Department stepped down citing ongoing cuts and a required further 20 per cent cut.
VOCM file photo of students protesting the tuition fee hikes.
O’Neill says it needs to be pointed out that cuts like this are not exclusive to just one faculty.
“Quite frankly i’m surprised we haven’t seen more of this sooner” O’Neill told the VOCM Morning Show. “It takes longer to get your course offering and professors are leaving.”
Memorial University has an annual operating budget of about $310-million – that’s $40-million less than it had a decade ago. Almost 13 per cent of that amount comes from tuition. O’Neill says the Science Building alone has close to $30-million in deferred maintenance.
The President of Memorial’s Faculty Association, Ken Snelgrove, says not investing in the University is a mistake that will hurt the entire province.
Snelgrove says “I see Memorial as a way out of this problem, as part of the long term solution.” He says “if we make the university inaccessible to youth and the groups then they will leave this province and that will just spiral us down farther and farther.”
