NEWS
Tuition freeze needs full funding: critics
By Anton Vidgen
Gazette Staff
The Ontario Liberal government’s pledge to freeze tuition
is moving full speed ahead, but critics warn the freeze may
hurt universities already suffering from budget shortfalls.
“The government has said many times that it’s
committed to a tuition freeze,” said Dave Ross, spokesperson
for the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.
However, a release by the Dominion Bond Rating Service said
the pledge carried with it “significant uncertainty for
the credit ratings of Ontario universities.”
A poor rating would signal a high risk to investors, reducing
the chance that bonds will be purchased. This would impair
the ability of universities to raise money to pay for capital
projects.
Ross rebuked criticisms by saying the opinions are based on
an incomplete picture.
Western is not rated by DBRS or any bond rating service as
it currently has no bonds issued, said Stu Finlayson, a treasurer
in Western’s financial services department. The university,
however, is considering issuing bonds as a future option, he
noted.
“We’re extremely anxious about the impact of the
tuition freeze,” said Western’s VP-academic Greg
Moran. “If there is no compensatory funding from the
Ministry, it will be disastrous.”
Moran said Western is currently underfunded and is still reeling
as a result of cuts imposed by the previous Progressive Conservative
government. In one year alone, funding was cut by 15 per cent,
he said.
Yet Western’s administration is prepared to talk with
the new Liberal government. “We believe we have to work
with the government,” Moran stated. “All of the
signals that we have from the government is that they are aware
of [the situation].”
At the moment, very few details about the tuition freeze have
been released. Moran said he feels “anxious, cautious
and guardedly optimistic.”
University Students’ Council VP-education Dave Ford
said students should be happy with the tuition freeze, but
only if it is fully funded by the government.
“What we don’t want is a tuition freeze that means
a reduction in quality,” Ford said. “We need funding
and we need a significant amount of money to be put into the
financial aid system. These things have to happen in concert.”
Ford said the government would have to inject $80 million
into universities as part of the tuition freeze to cover the
funds that would otherwise be raised by a tuition increase
of two per cent in regulated and 10 per cent in deregulated
programs.
Ross could not confirm any numbers, saying the details are
still being worked on.
