From a tuition freeze to tuition hikes: what it means to go ‘All Out Like ’99.’

Photo Credit: CSF-NL
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End of an era: reintroducing tuition hikes

The summer of 2021 was a shock to many Memorial University students. The administration announced the end of the long-standing 22-year tuition freeze due to government cuts to funding and the phase-out of the $68.4 million operating grant.

The tuition freeze, in place since 1999, saw full-time students from Newfoundland and Labrador paying $2,550 per year, with Canadian students from outside the province paying $3,330.

International students pay $11,460 for a year of full-time studies.

The Fall 2022 semester saw the tuition hike come into effect with new full-time NL and Canadian students’ rates increasing to $6000/year. International students’ tuition will rise to $20,000, and all students will continue to see a 4 per cent increase each year until 2026.

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Additionally, this is on top of prior cuts to the university. The university’s operating grant faces persistent cuts. 2015’s budget slashed it by $20 million, and budget 2017 cut it by $9 million two years after.

As a result, many students have voiced their concerns that the tuition hike’s phase-out threatens the province’s affordability and accessibility of education.

Isabel Ojeda, the Director of Campaigns at MUNSU and Local 35 Representative with CFS-NL, agrees with this sentiment.

“(The tuition hike) will have a devastating impact, we are seeing that with now with how it will worsen student struggles with the housing crisis and continued issues of cost of living as education becomes more unaffordable and students have to spend more just to attend. High tuition will also mean people opt out of attending university due to education becoming so much more inaccessible and expensive,” said Ojeda.

History of the student movement

Many students are aware of the existence and impact of MUN’s tuition freeze. However, few are familiar with its history and context.

MUN’s tuition freeze

After a decade of tuition fee increases and federal government cuts to education transfers in the late 1990s, tuition fees shot up by 151per cent- passing the transfers on to students.

1996 saw the single most significant cut to federal transfers to post-secondary education (2.29 billion dollars), increasing tuition fees dramatically.

These increases prompted student protests organized by the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) and its parent organization, the National Federation of Students (NFS). NFS and CSF called on both levels of government to end cuts, address student debt and make post-secondary education more affordable.

Solidarity
Photo Credit: The Muse (October 25th 1996)

The march and protest at the Confederation building in January of 1995 saw 5000 students participate, October 1996 saw 2500 students turnout, and the day of action in January 1998 saw 1000 students.

Successive campaigns resulted in then Premier Brian Tobin implementing the tuition freeze in January of 1999, followed by a 25 per cent tuition fee reduction from 2000 to 2002.

Premier Tobin is famously quoted as saying, “Students made it impossible for me not to freeze tuition fees.”

Why “All Out Like 99?”

Tuition hikes and continued cuts are back, and many students are in the same situation today as students in the 1990s, with increasing costs and the prospect of education becoming unaffordable.

Isabel Ojeda believes that its important to understand the history of the student movement when thinking about current issues like tuition.

“MUNSU put forward a motion for a provincial day of action and all out like 99 is to show students that it is possible to win and that our history shows that we have won. The student movement has shown that it has an impact on government; it is a powerful sentiment that collective action spurs change,” Ojeda says.

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Photo Credit: MUNSU Twitter

The Canadian Federation of Students is hoping to rally students against the abolition of the tuition freeze and budget cuts for a day of action on November 2nd.

They are calling for the reinstatement of funding, eliminating student debt, abolishing differential fees, and making post-secondary education fully funded and free to students.

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Bruce March
Bruce March is a 4th year student majoring in Political Science and Economics. He is passionate about student issues, public policy and our community at large