Have you ever wondered why university students pay so much for their university tuition? To be honest, I never really gave it any thought. I would see the amount owing, go to the bank, pay it off and never think twice to why I paid so much. It was not until the beginning of this semester that I realized that not only do I pay more money than I used to, I am not gaining anything more from the services. Yes, I realize I’m in my fourth year at SFU and am taking upper division courses now but the jump in tuition fees is insane. So I started to do some research, talked to some peers and realized that tuition and fees are at the top of the many university students complaint. As universities increase fees, yet at the same time decrease services, it makes me wonder what SFU does to make more money off of its students and here’s some things I found:

First of all, there have been substantial cuts to courses and tutorials. Many courses that I took in the past or courses that I wanted to take in the future are no longer offered on a daily basis due to the lack of funding for professors. I could understand if a course never filled up and was cut, but I look back to when I took courses that are no longer offered today, it was always a full lecture and there were students on the waitlist which meant that there was a demand for the course. It makes no sense for the university to cut it now but because of professor salaries, SFU decided to cut it from its academic calendar. You would think the amount of tuition that a student pays should be more than enough to cover the professor’s salary. Apparently not.

Furthermore, most courses require students to go to a tutorial component alongside the lecture component of the course. However, the amount of tutorials offered for a course is decreasing due to cuts, which mean more and more students are crammed into one tutorial session, lessening the amount of one-on-one learning time between the Teacher Assistant and the student.

My second find has to do with residential students. I’ve personally never lived on residence before so this never affected me but some of my friends have. Did you know that first year res students do not get a kitchen in their room but older res students do? I don’t get how you can offer older res students a kitchen yet not offer it to a first year res student. As if they didn’t spend enough already for living on residence, here’s the real kicker, a dining card is $1200 per semester. By not giving first year res students a kitchen, SFU is basically forcing students to go out and eat or spend an extra $1200, all of which cost more than if they cooked in their own kitchen.

Finally, this is my personal favorite, FAN and FAL, ever heard of it? No? Don’t be shocked. Many students haven’t either but for some, they are courses that SFU requires certain students to take. FAN, Foundations: Numeracy (FAN X99) and FAL, Foundations: Literary (FAL X99) are for undergraduate students who didn’t do so hot in high school Math and English. These students need to take either FAN or FAL, or both in order to fill the university numeracy and literacy requirements, even if they aren’t majoring in anything math or English related. I understand why the university makes students take these courses but here’s where they have a hand in your wallet. These two courses are 4 units each and are counted towards your cumulative grade point average but are not counted towards your total units taken required for graduation. So if you think you have 120 units and are ready for graduation, think twice, you only have 116, which means you still need to take at least one more course, which in turn means more tuition! Also, 4 credit courses cost more money to take than 3 credit courses and because FAN X99 and FAL X99 are listed as 4 credit courses, you’ll be paying more for a course that doesn’t count towards graduation.

At the beginning of every semester, I dread looking at the “future due” portion of my student information page because it meant my savings account was going to a significant hit. I’m beginning my fourth year of my post-secondary career and it never ceases to amaze how much I owe. If I were to grade SFU on their different cash grab schemes, they would get an “A” in my books.

Photos from www.icould.com, www.myuniversitymoney.com and www.boomerandecho.com