You probably don’t know it, but when you wake up at 7am tomorrow morning to the sound of your alarm clock, the Board of Governors of the University of Alberta will be preparing to increase student fees for the 2009/2010 academic year.
Held at the ungodly hour of 7am each year, tomorrow morning’s BOG meeting will increase tuition fees by CPI and hike residence rent by 8%. This means that over the past 3 years, Alberta students living in residences at the U of A have seen their rent increase by almost 30% (over $1,000). Put another way: residence rates at the U of A will have increased by $220 per month since 2006 (private University-area housing has only seen an average increase of $205 per month since 2006).
Highlighting the challenges created by increased costs, the U of A Students’ Union has been running the Restricted Access campaign and will be showing their presence at a rally tomorrow morning. I will be joining them and may have a chance to post my thoughts live from the Board of Governors meeting if I can get a seat.
