The University of Regina Students’ Union is echoing a message from their colleagues at the University of Saskatchewan over struggles students face over the cost of tuition.
Students at the U of S have had to face a 3.5% percent increase in tuition this year, and while U of R students are only dealing with a 2.8% percent increase, the students’ union at the U of R are reporting similar challenges.
URSU President Victor Oriola said tuition is the most relevant investment students are making, which may draw money away from their life sustainability.
“We have students who are unable to afford to eat three times a day, or they are unable to afford to live in a place they were live in previously, or they are unable to go about their lives in a manner that they would otherwise have gone through because of these tuition increments.”
The USSU has reported students are working three jobs to keep up with the cost of their tuition.
Oriola said the University should begin exploring different ways of generating funds other than government support and tuition.
“The government should also be aware that funding education, or investing in education, is one of the best investments per dollar that they can make,” Oriola said. “That is something that should be at the forefront of everybody’s minds, especially now that people are selecting what kind of government they would have for the next four years.”
Oriola said for international students, the impact could be even worse.
“It is not cheap; in fact there’s some international students who pay three times as much as our domestic students,” Oriola said. “These increases affect them equally as adversely, if not more.”
The URSU recently held a town hall with President Vianne Timmons and Provost Thomas Chase to explain directly to students where tuition dollars go, something Oriola says must continue in order to be transparent with the student body.
