By Вen Li
Students won a partial victory against differential tuition in Edmonton last week. The University of Alberta Board of Governors agreed to exclude the Bachelor of Commerce program from a differential increase, but raised general tuition by 6.9 per cent instead of the proposed 6.4 per cent to recoup the difference.
Tuition for medicine, law and MBA programs will double over the next three years due to increases in program fees in addition to base tuition. Medical students’ tuition will increase from $5,674 to $12,037 per year in 2005/2006. Tuition for law will increase by more than $2,000 per year to $8,575 by 2004/2005 from $4,300 currently. The cost of the MBA program will exceed $9,778 in 2004/2005 from $4,491 this year.
Students currently enrolled in those programs will not be subject to the additional program fees, but will pay base tuition increases.
The U of A Students’ Union suggestion of a 7.5 per cent across-the-board increase and the exclusion of program fees was rejected.