September and October means that SFU admins need to start “consulting” the SFU’s general populace about next year’s budget plan. But do you call a presentation and short Q&A session a “consultation”? Sound more like an information session to us. 

Tuition Freeze Now fought for better student consultations last year. We wanted the students to have an active role in deciding how the budget would be rolled out, but we didn’t see a big improvement. The only real change was the fact that other consultations became open to students, but nothing changed about effectively working towards getting the student body involved (after all, we didn’t even get an email notification until four days before the first consultation). This is not how we want our university to operate. 

Solution: A TUITION TOWNHALL 

This is why TFN hosted a Tuition Townhall on October 29th to engage SFU students. The Townhall featured a presentation from the TFN organizers about what’s been going on with the TFN movement, the data we collected from our survey, and what has been happening on the administration front.

We ended the night with group discussions about what we would like to do to engage faculty and staff at SFU, what we would like the board of governors to do, and how we would like the government to fight alongside us. 

The night featured lively conversations with a diverse group. If you would like you look at our minutes and presentation, please see the files attached. 

Tuition Townhall: Minutes

TFN Survey Findings

After our struggle to help the Board of Governors understand the difficulties of students in regards to tuition, a tuition hike was still implemented into the upcoming school year. So… what now for us? Do we disband? 

No, of course not! As the summer is progressing, Tuition Freeze is piling more and more onto its plate. This means taking steps to speak to the provincial government, grow a stronger community around affordability at SFU, and growing the movement into other campuses across BC. And, as always, this means we need your support. 

On June 26, 2019, we will be holding our third general assembly. This meeting will be centered around catching up on what we’ve been up to for the last month and planning our July out. 

Are you interested in joining us? Here’s the deets: 

When: Wednesday, June 26, 12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Where: RCB 5118, SFU Burnaby on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish people 

Why: To look over what we’ve been up to for June, and discuss what we’ll be doing over July 

The feedback on the presidential search ends on April 14, and, as students and people who care about education and life at SFU, WE NEED TO BE HEARD! 

Send your feedback to pres_search@sfu.ca
or
fill out this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.ca/r/sfu-pres-search-survey

Here are some points you can include:

The next SFU president must:

1. Be committed to affordable education for all. 
2. Believe in free education as a basic human right
3. Be from a marginalized group: Woman, person of colour, from indigenous group, LGBT+, etc. 
4. Care about workers and hate capitalism
5. Commit to tuition freeze for the next 5 (or 10, or 100) years
6. Willing to cut corporate ties and divest from corporations that invested in pipelines 
7. Work to have free housing for all SFU students
8. Spend at least 10 hours per week chatting with students on campus
9. Commit to reduction the tuitions by at least 20% per year

These are just some examples. Add anything else you want. Feel free to be funny or annoying but be concise.

Follow us on the Facebook event page [link].

21 March 2019, 11:45am

SFU Tuition Freeze Now (sfutuitionfreeze@gmail.com)

This morning, Simon Fraser University (SFU) Board of Governors voted to accept SFU’s proposed 2019/2020 budget, including tuition hikes ranging from 2% to 20%. During the meeting, administrators repeatedly pitted students against each other by implying that mental health provision, sexual violence prevention services, international bursaries and scholarships, and efforts toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples were potential targets for cuts if tuition did not increase. Administrators did not mention the possibility of shifting priorities within the budget, including capital projects ($35.3m last year) or top-level administrative salaries (which have increased by over $1m per year since 2004), or reconsidering wasteful spending such as the extensive use of external consultants; this made it clear that the budget decision had already been made, and that consultation with students would not affect this year’s budget. For months prior to today’s meeting, Tuition Freeze Now (TFN) advocated for a non-binding alternative budget incorporating a tuition freeze, but the board and Administration refused.

After the board approved the budget, students proposed two motions, under the Board of Governors rule #6.7, which allows for the tabling of motions related to “emergent matters”. One motion proposed that the University join with TFN and SFU’s student societies to lobby government for increased post-secondary education funding to enable a two-year tuition freeze, and one would make the budget process more available to students and staff. Despite the minimal effort required to meet these demands, board members refused to table either motion, and attempted to continue with the meeting agenda.

At this point, students disrupted the meeting, chanting “SFU: ENGAGE US” and “WE ARE SFU.” After discussing the importance of transparency, the chair adjourned the open session. Board members then left the room, leaving plates and half-eaten food around the table: yet another mess for others to clean up.

We want the administration and the community to know that we stand together against tuition increases, and students refuse to be divided between domestic and international, graduate or undergraduate. Tuition Freeze Now would like to thank the more than 2,000 students who signed our petition, the dozens of students who wrote letters to the Board of Governors, and the representatives of the SFU student societies who endorsed us (the SFSS and GSS). Tuition Freeze Now is connecting to community groups and students on other university campuses, building a province-wide movement to ensure affordable education for all.

TUITION FREEZE NOW, FREE TUITION NEXT

Reason for supporting a tuition freeze: “Education should not be a ball and chain scenerio”  

The BC Liberals deregulated tuition and rent increases years ago. BC skyrocketed from one of the most affordable provinces for post-secondary education to one of the most expensive.

The tuition cap fee policy is full of leaks and loopholes, it’s not enforceable, and provincial funding for post secondary institutions in 2013 was 15% lower than it was in 2001. And this crunch of public money being diverted away from education has been felt by students. As an international student, I faced outrageous tuition increases. From 2012 to 2015 my tuition had increased significantly, to the point that it almost ended my ability to finish my studies. My parents and I had very tough conversations about the cost of my education, and if it was possible for them to help me. I went through a lot of stress and guilt through the whole process. But we persevered, not thanks to SFU or to government, but to my friends and family that supported me in many ways.

Education should not be a ball and chain scenario. It should give us tools and skills to take into the real world. But access is important. Student debt is crippling. If you keep relying on students to make up for systematic cuts to education from provincial and federal governments, you won’t have an educated workforce for the future: you will have an uneducated generation, unable to keep up with the changing world.

Enough is enough!

When the Tuition Freeze Now team started planning for our campaign, we had our eyes set on the Board of Governors meeting that would take place on March 21, 2019. In this meeting, the Board of Governors will decide whether or not they will say “yes” to an outrageous tuition increase — 20% for certain students. And it is finally here. 

On March 21 at 8 a.m., join Tuition Freeze Now at Halpren Center. We will rally and gather at the Halpren Center together. In addition, some of our organizers will present in front of the Board. This will feature new information that we have uncovered in our fight, and finish it off by re-instating our demands. 

The SFSS will hold their pancake breakfast earlier in the morning at 7 a.m. 

Join us at Halpren Center this Thursday. Together, we can make tuition freeze a reality. 

TUITION REPORT 

For those who are looking for a comprehensive breakdown of tuition past, present, and future, the Tuition Freeze Now has written a report. This text covers the development of tuition leading to its current state. In addition, it features analyses of employee wages over the years. 

TUITION FREEZE NOW! 

On March 18, 2019, Tuition Freeze Now will hold a rally. The goal of this demonstration is to raise awareness about tuition hikes and to encourage students to come out to the Board of Governors meeting that will seal the fate of tuition. 

Tuition does not exist in a vaccum. Students have to live in houses, work in minimum wage positions, and buy food to survive. In order to tie all these issues together, Tuition Freeze Now will feature a list of speakers. Our speakers have experience in a wide breadth of activism in the lower mainland, and we are honoured to have them join us in this battle for affordability. On Monday, we will feature: 

Giovanni Hosang, computing science student; co-organizer of Tuition Freeze Campaign, President of Students of Caribbean and African Ancestry, SFSS Presidential Candidate.

Sara Sagaii, Communication Masters Student at SFU; organizer and activist with the Vancouver Tenants Union.

Sevil Beghban Karimi, Computer Science major; VTU Activist 

Jean Swanson, Vancouver Councilwoman (2018); Anti-poverty activist 

This campaign and our actions are organized on the unceded territory of the sḵwx̱wú7mesh, sel̓íl̓witulh, & xʷməθkʷəy̓əm nations.

On Tuesday February 26th, 2019, five student organizers from Tuition Freeze Now met with VP Finance Martin Pochurko, VP Academic Peter Keller, and Erin Biddlecombe from Student Services. The meeting had two goals: first, to receive more information on the proposed budget, as it has been difficult to find detailed information; and second, to urge SFU Administration to set up a concrete plan to freeze tuition at SFU for the next two academic years. We discussed the consultation process, details of the budget, and SFU’s commitment to make student affordability a priority. Administrators lauded SFU’s student consultation process, insisted that students had been heard (though did not commit to any changes to the budget whatsoever), and offered no concrete plans for student affordability.

Consultation Process

When asked about both their definition of consultation, and what students can do to affect the budget (a question that had to be asked in a variety of different ways), we were told repeatedly that they “met with the community” before and during their budget conversations. We were never given details on what this means. They could not answer a direct question about what students must do to impact the budget. One of the times when asked about students affecting the budget, they pointed to the “grandfather clause,” which was instituted a few years ago, as an example of student consultation effecting change.

[The administration] could not answer a direct question about what students must do to impact the budget.

When asked about the SFSS and GSS endorsing TFN, they fell back on saying that the admin is simply working within their environment, and hinting that they must raise tuition due to pressures from government underfunding. When asked about what they have done to lobby the government, they responded that lobbying is more powerful when it comes from students. When pressured again on the original question, they affirmed that the SFSS and GSS were adding to the dialogue.

Overall, we learned that the discussions are a little later than we thought, and that they see (a rather vague) community feedback as good enough two-way dialogue.

Budget

We asked various specific questions about the university’s financial situation, and then proceeded to general questions about the budget and affordability. The first few questions regarded endowments and how those relate to the budget. According to the VPs, the endowments are separate from the budget, and are governed by their own terms and conditions; they therefore cannot be used to ameliorate affordability issues or fund the capital projects.

Another specific budget item raised was that of faculty vacancies leading to budget surpluses or “carry-forward” budget amounts, as Keller insisted. On the matter of surplus, Pochurko stated that he is “horrified” with underspending. They explained that much of these amounts result from unforeseen circumstances (such as faculty death or resignation). However, this is still a consistently large figure.

While omitting that [Keller] went to school a significant number of years ago under remarkably different economic conditions, he also erased the difference between white international students and those who are racialized.

Both the VPS expressed empathy for students that has not been reflected in Administration’s policies. Keller made a comment about “knowing what it’s like” to be an international student, as he was one for much of his studies. While omitting that he went to school a significant number of years ago under remarkably different economic conditions, he also erased the difference between white international students and those who are racialized. Further, his remarks de-emphasized the financial difficulties facing students from underprivileged countries, when he cited US students who access more affordable education by studying in Canada.

The VPs stated that the Administration tries to be clear to incoming students about their fees, so if international students do not like the fees, they could go somewhere else. Multiple times, they threatened having to make cuts if there were to be a tuition freeze, implying that the budget is air-tight and their hands are bound in the matter.

Multiple times, they threatened having to make cuts if there were to be a tuition freeze.

Student Affordability

One remarkable part of the meeting is when asked what concrete plans they had in place to prioritize student affordability; both VPS replied they don’t know. No details were offered beyond the reference to bursaries and scholarships that have been repeated since October, not recognizing that there are higher barriers for international students to access these fundings.  

Student affordability is not one of the priorities SFU has currently.

From this meeting, it is clear that the administrative processes and important decisions such as budget are highly undemocratic and excluded of students. Student affordability is not one of the priorities SFU has currently. We need to stand together united to push back on the unjust tuition hike and push SFU to prioritize its students and make its processes democratic!

Together we can do it! Tuition Freeze Now!