Until the 2023–2024 and 2024–2025 audits are submitted, U of T is withholding student fees from the Association of Part-Time Undergraduate Students (APUS).
In the winter semester, APUS hopes to reopen the Sidney Smith office, process bursaries, plan for the spring elections, finalize budgets and audits, and work on education campaigns like next steps for Bill 33, Don’t Invoice Our Illness, and Part Time and Proud!
According to the 2024–2025 Enrolment Report, about 6,265 part-time students were enrolled at U of T. APUS’s tri-campus membership fee during the semester is $13.65, not including the optional health and dental plan.
Approved audits
A spokesperson for U of T wrote to The Varsity, “As APUS has not submitted its 2023-24 and 2024-25 audited financial statements, and is not exempt, the university has withheld the society’s fees after the October 2024 instalment… The Office of Vice-Provost, Students has been in contact with APUS to offer support.”
When The Varsity asked which audits have been approved, APUS wrote, “At the Special General Meeting at the end of August 2025, APUS members had approved the F2023 audited financial statements.” They continued to say the 2023–2024 audit is underway, and once that is completed, the 2024–2025 audit will take place.
APUS also wrote to The Varsity that, “The board and executives are dedicated folks who are passionate about the work and their members. Yes, APUS faced financial hardship over the years requiring us to make financial decisions in the best interest of the organization,” but that “ALL financial decisions that are made, go through the finance committee which comprises board members and executives, with recommendations that then go back to the board for approval.”
In the meantime, other U of T student unions have no representation for part-time students. The Scarborough Campus Students’ Union and University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union were unable to fill the part-time student director positions in their fall byelections, and the University of Toronto Students’ Union has no positions for part-time students.
Other than restricted funds, APUS’s budget was $386,745 in the most recent public audit, 2022–2023. That year, APUS ran at a $55,420 deficit of operating expenses over revenue. The total non-health, non-restricted expenses were $450,210, including $257,616 toward salaries, wages, and benefits; $87,773 in services and programming; $44,434 in audit and legal fees; and $34,500 under office and general expenses.
“Layoff Pa…” spreadsheet
In the last publicly available general meeting folder, Winter 2025, an Excel spreadsheet titled “2025.09.20-Layoff Pa…” was visible, but inaccessible. When The Varsity requested access, the APUS executive director’s Gmail rejected the request.
When asked about the spreadsheet, APUS wrote, “the shareable items to all part-time members were the same for the event that took place in August, 2025 and does not and has never included the file name that you requested from your own personal email account on Friday, November 28 at 2:59am, months later post the general meeting.”
The file has since been removed from the general meeting folder.
“Additionally, we want to stress that HR matters are private and confidential matters that are protected – and unauthorized individuals cannot and should not be trying to gain access to confidential materials,” APUS concluded.
APUS disputes out-of-office claims
While responding to The Varsity’s questions about the fall semester in December 2025, APUS disputed claims that they were out of office in the summer:
“The part-time student association is very much different from our other sister student unions across UofT where elected representatives are committed to full-time roles, as mandated within the bylaws – for APUS elected representatives, it’s a part-time role with a small limited budget. During such time, staff and elected representatives have in fact been doing work and servicing members – from issuing bursaries, to newsletters, to responding to emails and to do outreach.”
The Varsity’s emails to APUS from June onwards did not receive a response until September.
APUS sent two emails to part-time students over the summer. The first was on July 9, 2025, announcing a $250 summer bursary program and the upcoming August Special General Meeting. The second came on August 21, which gave notice for the general meeting and promoted the Canadian Federation of Students Ontario’s Food Experience Survey and “Hands Off Our Education!” campaign.
APUS also wrote, “Folks have been going to the office – but unfortunately, your sensationalized recap on September 4 illustrates a very untrue reality.”
While the Sidney Smith office has been closed — which APUS plans to reopen this semester — President Jaime Kearns clarified that, “the North Borden office has staff or executives in there during the day but for safety reasons, we will usually keep the door locked if there is only 1 person in the office.”
Addressing The Varsity reporter who visited the North Borden office to find it unlocked and empty, Kearns wrote that there have been times when they have stepped out of office to go to First Nations House across the hall. Kearns said that APUS now locks the door if they leave for any reason, thanking The Varsity for bringing it to their attention and for “not stealing anything while you were there.”
The Varsity would like to formally apologize for incorrectly representing Kearns’ student status in our September 8 article, “Part-time student association was full-time out of office this summer.” In December, Kearns wrote to The Varsity to clarify that they did not graduate in 2020 and have been a student since 2009.
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