The newly-appointed President of Memorial University is not shutting the door to possible tuition increases at MUN.
Tuition at MUN is currently $2,550 yearly, plus various fees including student services and infrastructure fees. Those are one-third of the tuition charged at comparable English institutions, according to President Vianne Timmons.
A provincial post-secondary review is now underway, and Timmons is awaiting the outcome of that process.
She says if a university is heavily financed by the provincial government, and that funding is cut, it can be “pretty traumatic.”
Timmons says flexibility is critical, and discussions surrounding possible tuition increases are important.
She believes that in an ideal world, post-secondary institutions should be “tuition-free, but this is not an ideal world.” She says multiple streams of revenue are necessary for greater flexibility. Students must have access to a university education at a reasonable cost, says Timmons. She thinks there’s “room to move” when it comes to tuition at MUN.
VOCM file photo of students protesting tuition fee hikes.
Classes in the Fall Most Likely Not Taking Place in Real-Time
Meanwhile, the University is still working on the details on how courses will be delivered remotely come September.
MUN announced this week that most courses would be delivered online until January.
Mark Abrahams is the vice-president, academic at Memorial.
He says they are still ironing out the details, but it all depends on the university’s capacity and those of the students at home.
Abrahams says most likely, classes will not happen in real-time.
That would require lots of video-conferencing and internet demands. He says professors will likely be uploading course materials online for students to view at their own leisure.
President Vianne Timmons says her priority is to ensure all students have equal access to education, and they are working towards that end.
