The University Affairs Board (UAB) approved another round of ancillary fee increases at last Tuesday’s University Affairs Board Governing Council meeting.
Operating plans for all three university campuses were approved, as well as those for Athletics and Recreation, Hart House and Service Ancillaries.
Budget expenses will cover all ancillary facilities including residences, parking, conference and food services.
Vice Provost, Students, David H. Farrar said the increase is necessary to cover rising budget expenditures. “[The] increases go to covering operating expenses, everything from increased utility expenses to increases in employment benefits,” he said. Farrar added the hikes were within limits of years past. “This is pretty comparable to previous years.”
Of the nine residences under budget review, six will see room rate hikes next year. University College will see the biggest increase of nine per cent for 2004-2005. Both Innis College and Graduate House are forecasting operating budget surpluses of $202,513 and $263,536 for 2003-2004, respectively. Operating losses, however, are predicted for Scarborough and New College for the next three years at least.
The UAB budget approvals come just days after the university announced a two per cent budget cut for the 2004-2005 operating year-a 2.6 per cent drop from this year.
Despite the falling numbers, the university administrators say U of T faces serious financial pressures as it moves forward to built the “best public university in the world.”
“The university has serious budget problems. We’re looking at budget cuts for the foreseeable future,” said Farrar.
Ancillary fees-costs added on top of tuition-are drawn independently from the university budget and are paid entirely by students. Ancillary fee structures are approved by students and are heavily reviewed by them.
“We couldn’t do it without the students. They really are terrific,” said Karen Lewis, assistant dean, Faculty of Physical Education and Health.
In an attempt to spruce up revenue to meet surging demand, the faculty had approved a 6.67 per cent sessional fee increase for St. George, bringing full-time fees to $97.69 and part-time fees to $19.54 per term; UTM and UTSC will see no increase. The fee raise is a response to meet a “woefully under-funded” co-curricular program hit hard by salary and benefit increases and rising university facilities and services charges.
Although the ancillary fee increase is “a little more” than last year, says Lewis, she’s thrilled it’s permanent. “It’s wonderful this year that students have supported it.” Lewis also says the permanent hike was approved by both SAC and APUS.
The faculty, however, is still looking to meet growing student demand. “We don’t have a lot of room, and we know we’re going to have more students using our facilities and services,” said Lewis. “We have a high demand we can’t meet in intramurals. In terms of demand for programs, it’s huge. We may have to make some major decisions about the number of programs we offer.”
