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NUGSS Page

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Thank The Maker for Three Lines For Free

A meeting with the minister, and a call to get involved

By Nedinska MacEachern

For the past five years
British Columbian post sec-
ondary students have
enjoyed a freeze on tuition.
This past week, the Minister
for Advanced Education,
Shirley Bond held a consulta-
tive meeting in Vancouver to
collect student input in
regards to the freeze. This
meeting was paid for by the
Ministry in an effort to gain
information so that the
Minister can make recom-
mendations to the govern-
ment. Minister Bond’s gov-
ernment campaigned on the
promise that they would
maintain the freeze for this
academic year, but would
have to re-evaluate the situa-
tion for the following year.

| attended the meeting,

The Future is so Bleak | Gotta
Wear Shades

Students Call for Reduction in Tuition

By Nedinska MacEachern
On November 1st, the
Minister for Advanced
Education, Shirley Bond held
a consultation meeting in
Vancouver to gather input
about the current tuition
freeze from students across
the province. The Northern
Undergraduate Student
Society was represented by
their External Affairs Director
Nedinska MacEachern to
raise the concerns of stu-
dents attending UNBC.
“There is a dichotomy of
opinion about the cost of edu-
cation,” says Ms.
MacEachern, “on the one
hand, students benefit from

along with approximately 35
other students from across
the province, to voice con-
cerns that students had about
their tuition. UNBC students
favoured the tuition freeze,
citing that it made post sec-
ondary education more
affordable and accessible,
while others felt that their
education was suffering as a
result of a low cost of tuition,
meaning that course avail-
ability was low and class-
rooms were getting too
crowded. These comments
were conveyed to the
Minister as well as echoed by
the other student reps at the
meeting.

| was thankful for the
opportunity to voice the con-
cerns of students, that | had
spoken with, to the Minister.

the freeze because it makes
post secondary education an
option, on the other hand,
students would support a
slight increase in fees if it
meant that they would see
more course offerings.”
Shirley Bond, the new
Minister of Advanced
Education and former student
at UNBC, maintained that
she was on a fact finding mis-
sion to hear what both stu-
dents, administrators and
educators had to say. about

the current tuition freeze.

She could not proffer any
information about what action
her government would take
but said she would be making

Over The Edge appreciates every
istudent’s opinion, and will print letters
to the editor that are submitted.

Please drop off your submission at
our office or e-mail us at
over-the-edge @ unbc.ca.

Minister Bond maintained
that she was unable to com-
ment on what the direction of
the government would be in
terms of the tuition freeze but
that she would also be con-
sulting with administrators
and educators to find out
what the province will do in
terms of post secondary edu-
cation. —

So while the issue of
tuition hasn’t yet been
resolved, | would just like to
thank all those students who

took the time to comment on —

their feelings about the cost
of their education.

For all those who have
their noses out of joint
about not being consulted,
this university is not very
big. The NUGSS office is
right around the corner

recommendations to the
government in November.

The consensus among
students attending the con-
sultation was that tuition
fees were already too high
and that they should be
eliminated altogether. As
one student said, “[the gov-
ernment]. should accept
some short term pain for
some long term gain,” while
referring to the contribution
that post secondary gradu-
ates make to society in
terms of taxes paid back
once working in the work-
force.

“The Northern
Undergraduate Student
Society looks forward to
having a constructive work-
ing relationship with the
Minister in satisfying the
needs of students and the
institutions that they
attend,” says Nedinska
MacEachern.

from the newspaper as well
as EARS, in fact, there was a
table set up outside of the
office for students to drop off
comments. | did visit some
classes to inform students of
my trip, however it would be
logistically impossible to visit
every single class. If you are
not informed about the
issues, it is not the responsi-
bility of anyone to spoon-feed
you information and tell you
how to think. | dare you to
get involved, see if you can
make a difference or maybe
you should join a committee
to spread information around

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the university, especially
when the implications could
result in the difference
between attending school or
not. If students feel that they
are out of the loop, board
meetings are on Wednesday
nights at 5:30 and there is
always the website,
www.nugss.com. As well, on
any given day in the NUGSS
office there is always a board
member ready to help you
should you need it.

Nedinska MacEachern

External Affairs Director,
NUGSS

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