The Worst of the Worst
International Students Hit Hardest by Tuition Hikes
-WebEdit__thumb_814_600_90.jpg)
On Nov. 10, students from across the province will march in solidarity against the impending tuition fee hikes proposed by the Charest government.
But if anyone needs to stand up for accessible education, it is the international students. Our tuition is already the most expensive and is about to go up even more.
International students at Concordia have seen their tuition steadily increase by 35 per cent since 2005-2006, yet we still aren’t immune from the current Charest-proposed hikes.
The government is going to hike the tuition fees for all students by $325 per year for the next five years. That means that by the 2016-2017 academic year, all students will be paying $1,625 more for their education than they do today—international students included.
That’s bad news for all students, but tuition is increasing from a substantially higher baseline for international students than for Quebec residents.
Adding insult to injury, international students also face hikes above and beyond those applicable to residents—and this isn’t something new. In 2007-2008, when Quebec students’ tuition increased by $100, international students saw their bill jump by almost $600. Since then, things have been gradually getting worse.
Tuition Breakdown
In order to fully grasp the impact of these hikes, it’s important to understand how an international student’s tuition bill works.
Essentially, the bill is composed of four types of fees: the basic tuition and ancillary fees paid by Quebec students, international ancillary fees, and differential fees.
The basic tuition and ancillary fees paid by Quebec students are included in international students’ fees, so any increase in Quebec students’ tuition will be automatically reflected in international students’ tuition as well.
Ancillary fees have been increasing since the ‘90s. In 2010-2011, differential fees reached, on average, $375.57 per credit for “soft” disciplines like the social sciences and $427.02 per credit for “hard” disciplines. Remember, that’s per credit—multiply that by 15 for a full semester’s course load and you see what we’re talking about.
That doesn’t include the six families of programs that have deregulated fees since 2007-2008—administration, law, computer science, engineering, mathematics and the pure sciences.
Essentially, it is the individual universities that set the fees for these programs. There is a minimum, but no cap, and soon they might not be regulated at all.
The Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport recently announced that it plans to revise its policies concerning tuition fees for international students—but given the history here, it’s unlikely that those changes will be in our interests or to our benefit.
There’s Hope
Thankfully, it’s not all bad news.
For the last few years, the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec has been working on the implementation of a tax credit for international students who wish to settle in Quebec after their studies.
These students would then be credited the difference between the fees they paid for their tuition as an international student and those of a Quebec student. The FEUQ recently presented this project during consultations on the Quebec’s 2012-2015 immigration strategies.
But if the FEUQ is going to be working for international students, we need to stand together and support them.
The numbers are on our side, both in this province and the country, but even more so at this school. In 2005, international students represented eight per cent of the total number of students in Quebec. At Concordia, they formed 11.5 per cent.
Contrary to what some people might want us to believe, we have the means to voice our dissatisfaction and have it resonate to the government.International students more than anyone else need to be out in the streets on Nov. 10. Go to Mob Squad meetings every Friday at 6:00 p.m. in the CSU Lounge. Keep on top of the movement at concordiastudents.ca, and know your issues. For more information, visit 1625wontpass.ca
We’ll see you on the streets.
Nadine Atallah is an independent councillor on the Concordia Student Union and Ariane Campeau is the FEUQ’s VP Sociopolitical Affairs.
