Tuition fees at the University of British Columbia (UBC) will rise by 75% for incoming medical students and by 50% for other students this September.
The BC government had frozen postsecondary tuition fees for the last 6 years, making UBC's fees — $3740 for first-year medical students — the lowest in Canada except for Quebec. They will remain much lower than in Ontario, where University of Toronto students currently pay $15 000 annually.
UBC Dean John Cairns says the 6 years of flat fees and decreasing operating grants have left the school in a precarious position. “The strains in terms of sustaining quality are severe. We have not been able to hire junior faculty and we have lost faculty positions.”
And the fee increases will continue. “The provincial government will not be increasing the funding to postsecondary education over the next 3 years, but costs will certainly rise.”
Lance Anderson, a third-year medical student and UBC's representative on the Canadian Federation of Medical Students, says medical schools are becoming less accessible. “They will become so elitist that they will only be available to rich families. A lot of people won't even consider them.”
Cairns is worried too. “Any increase in costs has the potential to create financial barriers, so part of the reason for phasing this in is to allow time to try to put in place some more effective [financial] initiatives.”
Cairns thinks the student loan system should be changed. “The repayment schedules for student loans are absurd. … Our students graduate with an MD and enter anywhere from 2 to 6 more years of education, and yet they have to start repaying their loans on a very modest income.”
Anderson, who says many students now graduate facing debts of $50 000 to $100 000, thinks loan amounts should be increased before the fee increases take effect. But he understands that a fee increase was needed.
“We have had a tuition freeze for a long time, but when we are talking about $15 000, we are getting a little out of control.” — Heather Kent, Vancouver