One-time deal lowers ancillaries for upcoming academic year

But $7 million in provincial funding fails to provide a long-term solution

Tessa Vanderhart, Staff

The provincial government and the University of Manitoba have reached an agreement that will see students paying ancillary fees of $150 per full-time student this fall.

The ancillary fees — reduced from $465 — have been supplemented by $6.9 million in onetime provincial funding.

A similar last-minute agreement was reached with Brandon University on July 8, which will see $545,000 in provincial funding reduce ancillaries to $150 as well.

Amanda Aziz, UMSU President, said that she is not happy with the outcome, as there is still, in effect, an increase in tuition despite the freeze.

"[It’s] short sighted . . . . The fact that this injection of money is being billed as a one-time influx of funding leaves us to worry about what’s going to happen next year," said Aziz.

Aziz warned that next year, she believes the full $465 increase will be instituted by the university as it has been passed by the Board of Directors and will, in all likelihood, be needed by the university.

However, she added that she found recent polling done by the Free Press — showing that two-thirds of Manitobans support the tuition fee freeze — to be encouraging.

"Though students recognize that universities need more funding, I think that this funding doesnot necessarily reflect the priorities of students in what we see as the quality of our education," shesaid.

"The problem hasn’t been solved . . . there still is a lot of work to do to make sure that it does get solved next year."

John Danakas, the director of Public Affairs for the university, said that as unappealing as the deal may be, it was a necessary solution to this year’s funding issues.

"The president has indicated that it is a welcome solution for this year’s challenges, but that we need to continue discussions with the province for longer-term solutions to the funding challenges that all post-secondary institutions in the province face," said Danakas.

"We can’t operate with a deficit - there’s legislation against that. The operating grant from the province has not been increasing as much as the revenue has been increasing at other provincial universities, so it’s much more difficult for the U of M to keep pace," he said.

The remaining fees will not go to operating grants, but instead tofunding technological improvements. Danakas emphasized that he thinks the remaining $150 technology fee will not reduce accessibility.

"There is a tuition freeze, and there’s still the rebate - and the tuition in Manitoba is still very competitive with other provinces," said Danakas.

Louise Gordon is the executive director of the Council on Post-Secondary Education (COPSE).She said that the one-time funding decision, while pragmatic, is by no means a definitive solution.

"Certainly everyone understands that money was provided this year for this year," she said.

Gordon emphasized that funding decisions are tough, complicated by a finite amount of provincial money and ever-increasing demands from institutions.

She also said that in COPSE’s role as a buffer agency between the provincial government and post-secondary institutions, there is friction ahead — and no obvious solution in the long term.

"The government is committed to the tuition fee freeze. The government acted to provide additional revenues to the institutions to support them through this year in a way that didn’t harm students. The issue was keeping post-secondary accessible for students," she said.

The University of Winnipeg reached a two-year deal with the province, seeing a total of $3 million in funding which will reduce ancillaries to $125 for much-needed repairs to information technology. The recently announced funding brings the total resolve of the 2005 funding crisis to $10.4 million of the province’s money.