With student life facilities, as with most things, you get what you pay for. On February 3, Hart House, the Office of Student Life, and the Faculty of Kinesiology delivered the annual budget presentation for the 2014–2015 school year.
Anita Comella, the assistant dean for the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KPE), proposed a 1.45 per cent budgetary increase from student fees, amounting to $2.24 for each full-time student at the St. George campus. Student fees account for 70 per cent of the overall budget of the KPE, which amounted to $24,672,815 for the 2013–2014 academic year. By contrast, university support amounts to one per cent of the total funding for the faculty. U of T’s financial support of KPE was instated in 1979 when the Athletic Centre opened. It has remained unchanged since. The amount is not subject to increases according to inflation, as student fees are.
Rita O’Brien, the chief administrative officer of Hart House, presented a proposed budget increase of 1.4 per cent. Until the early 1990s, Hart House received 50 per cent of its funding from the university. However, following a financial crisis at the university, the funding for Hart House was cut entirely and never reinstated. Since then, 53 per cent of Hart House’s $16.5 million annual funding has come from student fees. Bruce Kidd, the warden of Hart House, says that the century-old building is facing serious issues, including needing new plumbing and infrastructure. Kidd states: “I would argue that the COSS formula has put us in a structural deficit for years and years. The inflationary formula does not allow us to realize the true cost of inflation on the operating side.”
“There is a serious problem, not with COSS, but the university at large not wanting to support central student services, and Hart House is one of those services,” said Munib Sajjad, president of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU).“To ask students to pay more money for something that the government and university should be funding is unacceptable,” he added.
Lucy Fromowitz, the assistant vice-president of Student Life, proposed a fee increase of $9.08 for full-time students at the St. George campus and a $1.82 increase for part-time students at the St. George campus. UTSC and UTM have their own offices of Student Life and do not pay fees to that of the St. George campus. The fees to Student Life go towards departments on campus in addition to occupancy costs for student space.
Student ancillary fees cover approximately 60 per cent of the overall costs of Student Life, while the other 40 per cent is collected from central funding, grants, and revenue sources such as OHIP. Susan Froom, the president of the Association of Part-Time Undergraduate Students (APUS), amended the agenda to put forth a motion to recommend changing the location of the Transitional Year Programme (TYP) from 49 St. George Street to one of the 87 university owned houses in the Harbord-Sussex neighborhood. Fromowitz objected to the proposed recommendation, stating that it was not within the jurisdiction of COSS.
Yolen Bollo-Kamara, UTSU’s vice-president, equity, supported the recommendation stating: “These are student services, and this body should look at fair access to services for all students so that they can succeed while they are at U of T.” After submitting a motion to recommend the investigation of the relocation of TYP to a new space in the Harbord-Sussex neighborhood, COSS decided six votes to four to make the recommendation. This recommendation which will be discussed in upcoming university meetings. Negotiations with the TYP committee have been ongoing and are being dealt with by the Academic Board and Business Board of Governing Council.
COSS will vote on February 26 whether or not to approve the fee increases; however, the final say will be up to the University Affairs Board, which may recommend approval of the operating plans to Governing Council. Governing Council can in turn enact temporary increases. COSS has not approved any fee increases for KPE, Hart House, or Student Life in five years.
