Students in the Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence program can breathe a collective sigh of relief after hearing that their tuition isn’t going to be hiked by almost 40 per cent.
After a flurry of petitions, e-mails and panicked phone calls, it turned out that the fee increase listed in the new Arts and Science registration handbook was just a big mistake.
Earlier last week, Meghyn Garner read that all the students in her program would soon be paying the same deregulated tuition fees as Computer Science students. While there are only about two dozen students in the program, the discovery caused a panic.
Messages from concerned students began appearing on the department’s website almost immediately.
The decision, which could have resulted in a tuition increase of over 40 per cent, came as a shock to students and professors alike. But it turned out to be a glitch.
After a week of circulating a petition and gaining public support from groups such as the Arts and Science Students’ Union (ASSU), Garner finally got a response from Faculty Registrar and Assistant Dean George Altmeyer. “He said that the university will not be charging CogSci AI students computer science fees unless they are also in a Comp Sci program—which is all we expect,” said Garner.
“This is good news for our program. They shouldn’t have charged us this in the first place, but at least they have righted their mistake.”
While the students are content with the turnover of the tuition hike, questions remain as to why the mistake was made in the first place and why it took a week for the administration to decide it was, in fact, a mistake.
“I’m not going to say directly whether it was purposeful, but obviously it’s worrisome,” said ASSU president Rakhi Bhavnani. “It wasn’t in the calendar last year, so somebody must have submitted a change…somebody okayed that change.”
Bhavnani compared this situation to that of the commerce program, where tuition was discreetly raised. “These are small programs…they don’t think anyone will take notice of the fee changes.”
Program Director Philip Zelazo was glad to learn that it was a blunder. “I was delighted to hear about the faculty’s decision to exempt CSAI students from the deregulated fees, and very pleased to see them respond so quickly—almost immediately.”
“I’m quite confident that it was a mistake,” said Zelazo. “These things happen.”
While Altmeyer could not be reached for comment, associate director of communications Christine Elias did inform the Varsity that the Arts & Science website has since been corrected with the accurate fees.
