May 23, 2018
Winnipeg, MB – On May 22nd, the University of Manitoba’s Board of Governors approved a 6.6% tuition increase for all students enrolled in 2018-2019 classes. For those taking a full course load, this amounts to a $260 increase per domestic student and a $1013 increase per international student. Both UMSU representatives on the Board of Governors, President Jakob Sanderson and Vice President Advocacy Sarah Bonner-Proulx, voted against this increase in support of our students who are already facing rising costs to access post-secondary education.
UMSU believes a more reasonable approach could have been taken that did not include the maximum increase allowed under provincial law—which is higher than the average provincial increase rate, in any Western Canadian Province, since 2012. It is also the first increase of over 5% in that time.
UMSU assures students we are doing everything we can to attempt to make education more affordable for students this year, and to prepare ourselves to combat similar tuition increases next year. We call upon the university and the provincial government to make education a priority and consider ways to reduce these financial barriers that have been placed upon students. In particular, we call on our administration to implement freely accessible open educational resources in classrooms as opposed to textbooks to offset these tuition increases.
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The University of Manitoba Students’ Union is the official representative of the over 25,000 undergraduate students at the University of Manitoba.
For media information, please contact:
Jakob Sanderson
President
University of Manitoba Students’ Union
Phone: 204-474-6519
Email: pres@umsu.ca
