|
|
|
|
|
11 July 2002
uwRyan.com This website is meant to provide value to UW student by delivering information. It will also supplement the column that I write for Imprint by providing extra information on some of the topics about which I will write in addition to the text of each column. Please provide feedback on what I write as well as give me suggestions of topics to cover. You can send e-mail to me to ryan[at]uwryan[dot]com. |
UW expropriating $25 for CECS buildingQuestion the legitimacy of co-op fee increase
Students have been talking about the notion that the CECS building, being an academic building, should be ineligible for student fee funding since academic credits for work terms were introduced. This was brought up at the Dean of Engineering Forum on 13 May. This notion is incorrect; the condition to be considered is whether or not the building would normally be funded by operating or capital grants. The regulations that the government uses to control university fees suggest that increasing the co-op fee to fund the CECS building was beyond propriety. I will explain the background of the CECS building and the $25 co-op fee increase, discuss government policy on fees and show how this increase to the co-op fee is outside the rules set by government. The number of students in co-op programs has grown to 10,807, 61% of undergraduates, in the fall of 2001 from 9,354, 57%, in 1991 and 8,552, 62%, in 1996. As the CECS department grew it had a greater need for resources, including office space. Two years ago, on 24 February 2000 Dianne Cunningham, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities announced a $31.21 million SuperBuild grant for the project Multi-Facility Expansion, including the Cooperative Education Centre, now the CECS Building. This funding only paid for about half of the cost of the buildings in the project. On 9 March 2001 then-Feds president Chris Farley announced in Imprint that the university had asked students to agree to a 25-year $25 increase in the co-op fee to pay for about half of the CECS building. Despite opposition from students, the Board of Governors on 3 April 2001 approved the increase. The Ontario Operating Funds Distribution Manual governs how the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities, Universities Branch distributes operating grants to universities in Ontario. This manual, most recently published in 1999, also governs tuition fees and ancillary fees. Universities have the authority to set fees as they wish but follow the guidelines. The government would penalize universities that violate the manual by reducing their operating grants. Ancillary fees are first divided into two types, tuition-related and non-tuition related. Tuition-related ancillary fees are defined by the manual as those which are "levied to cover the costs of items normally paid for out of operating or capital revenue (operating and capital grants and tuition fees)." Any revenue from this type of fee is considered tuition fee revenue. Fees of this type have been prohibited since 1991. Non-tuition-related ancillary fees fund things not normally paid for out of operating or capital revenue. This covers fees like the Student Services Fee, Student Co-ordinated Plan and the Co-op Fee. In order for non-tuition-related fees to be increased one of three things needs to happen: protocol, referendum or exemption. A protocol is a process of consultation and approval agreed to by students representatives and university representatives, this is the case for the Student Services Fee. Fees can be approved by students in referenda like the Student Co-ordinated Plan, on which students voted in 1992. Certain fees can be exempt; this is the case for the Co-op Fee. The manual gives the relevant condition for exemption as " existing and future fees for the total costs of placing students in jobs for work terms..." Costs eligible for exemption include salaries and expenses of co-op staff and maintenance cost of the space including utilities, custodial and security, but the list does not include the capital cost of this space. Id est cost of construction is not included as an exempt cost. Because the CECS building was eligible for a SuperBuild grant it seems, it could normally be paid for by capital grants. So the existing co-op fee is exempt but the increase is not, meaning the $25 is essentially a new and different fee. This new fee would either be tuition-related which is prohibited or it must be approved by students in a referendum or under a protocol which did not happen. Student leaders must determine the truth of the situation and hold the university to account for any inappropriate action. |
|