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OTTAWA - In anticipation of the University of Ottawa Board of Governors vote on its annual
budget, representatives from the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO), the
Graduate Students Association des tudiant.e.s diplm.e.s (GSAD), and other interested
parties will be gathering in the University Centre to raise awareness around the status quo of
skyrocketing tuition fees and the unrepresentative university governance scheme that upholds it.
Students are anticipating tuition fee increases up to the maximum provincially allowable amount
in the presentation of the universitys budget for the next fiscal year.
This year will represent the tenth anniversary of tuition fee hikes by the maximum provincially
allowable amount, said Anne-Marie Roy, President of the SFUO. This should be a shameful
anniversary for uOttawa, and yet our Board of Governors treats record high student debt and
barriers to access as business as usual.
Since the tuition fee freeze was lifted in Ontario in 2006, tuition fees in the province have
become the highest in the country. In the last twenty years undergraduate tuition fees in Ontario
have outpaced inflation by 601%, with average student debt for a four-year degree at $27,000.
Record-high levels of student debt are acting as a barrier to both post-secondary education and
full participation in the economy upon graduation. Last year alone, over 200,000 Canadians
were unable to make payments on their student loans.
If our highest governing body were serious about prioritizing students they would shift internal
spending priorities away from upper administrative salaries and corporate marketing schemes
and would demand from government the kind of change advocated by students for decades:
adequate public funding for post-secondary education, said Nicole Desnoyers, VP Services and
Communications of the SFUO. However, the reality is that our University is governed by
members of the public and private sector elite who have little interest in challenging the status
quo.
The Board of Governors of the University of Ottawa is comprised of thirty voting members, with
only three student, four faculty, and two support staff representatives. As such, unelected,
appointed external community members make up the vast majority of the Board.
The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa supports a more democratic and
representative governing structure for its University and a fully publically funded system of postsecondary education. The SFUO is Local 41 of the Canadian Federation of Students.
For further information:
Anne-Marie Roy: 613-218-1138
president@sfuo.ca
Nicole Desnoyers: 613-805-0807
vp.communications@sfuo.ca
presidente@feuo.ca
Nicole Desnoyers: 613-805-0807
vp.communications@feuo.ca