University of Toronto international students calling for a tuition fee freeze

International students attending the Rotman Commerce program at the University of Toronto are calling on the post-secondary institution to put a freeze on raising their tuition fees amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The students say the tuition fee schedule, which has increased their fees by at least seven per cent, was penned before the pandemic hit and needs an urgent update.

They say they’re in an extremely precarious position because most of them are not eligible for government relief programs like domestic students are and many are struggling to get summer jobs amidst the economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19.

“We think that it is not reasonable at all to increase the tuition, when more than 90 per cent of the courses are shifting online for the upcoming school year,” says Sunny, one of the students who started a petition to put a freeze on tuition increases. “The education and quality will be definitely compromised, and many students’ services and facilities will be closed and not accessible for students, such as libraries.”

To date, the petition on change.org has almost 6,000 signatures.

CityNews reached out to the University of Toronto for comment. In an email, the school says that since March, it has “provided more than $5-million in financial aid to students – including international students.” The schools says its international fees also “reflect the extra services we provide to international students.”

Jessica Lu, who is the director of advocacy for international students at Rotman Commerce, along with two other classmates, designed a survey for students about the climate surrounding the high fees. She says the survey’s findings, that have been shared on their Facebook Page, shed light on the struggles facing many in the upcoming school year.

“We decided to conduct the survey because many students in the program have come to us to voice their concern,” says Lu. “Over a span of a week of posting, we got 200 [signatures] within 48 hours of sending it, we were like, ‘oh my gosh – like people are really passionate about this topic.’ It just tells us that you know people are not happy.”

Some of the survey’s findings include that 91 per cent of respondents were experiencing some degree of financial strains as a result of COVID-19, and 88 per cent of them found that the financial strain caused by COVID-19 has negatively affected them.  Additionally, 96 per cent of respondents did not agree with the increase, and 70 per cent did not feel that the university financially supported them during this time.

Beside the financial hardship, the pandemic and its pressures is also taking a mental health toll on many of the students. Andrea, who is a 4^th year student at Rotman from Malaysia says that she feels “guilty and extra stress,” having to finish her studies during these times that are financially difficult for her family.

“It’s definitely a difficult pill to swallow knowing that my dad has to work harder, during this unprecedented time to support me financially in Canada,” she says. “It’s mentally torturing to sometimes know that we can’t do anything, because they have the upper hand,” she says. “International tuition fee is deregulated and we’re trying our best to really push for it and I just really feel bad for my parents too, because they can’t do anything about it too.”

CityNews reached out to the Ministry of Colleges and Universities for comment. The province says that “it is engaging with the federal departments of Global Affairs Canada and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), to understand and find ways to continue to support all students” and that “the government recognizes the unique challenges facing international students during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

It adds that individual schools determine their international student fee structures.

In the meantime, some of the students say one solution they’re looking at as an option is to increase their workload so they don’t have to stay another semester in school and pay the high fees.