Students disappointed in requested tuition hike

WATCH: Dalhousie University is hoping to take advantage of the province’s offer allowing them to raise tuition on a onetime adjustment. The Dalhousie student union says they’re disappointed Dalhousie has requested a tuition increase, saying that students will be hit hard. Global’s Heide Pearson has more on the story.

HALIFAX – Just a couple of months after the provincial government announced changes to tuition regulations, Dalhousie University is making changes.

The Dalhousie Student Union said in a press release on Thursday that the university has requested tuition fee increases for students in pharmacy, engineering and agriculture. The students in the union said they are disappointed and upset about the idea of the school raising costs.

READ MORE: Students call free-for-all on raising university tuition ‘insane’

The DSU says the increases in tuition as a result of a market adjustment could mean an increase of about $1,000 per year for students in the affected programs.

“Students are concerned about this,” said Hutton.

“I mean we already graduate with an average of $37,000 in debt, we pay some of the highest fees in the country, we’re worried that these resets will make Nova Scotia the most expensive in the country.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I mean we already graduate with an average of $37,000 in debt, we pay some of the highest fees in the country, we're worried that these resets will make Nova Scotia the most expensive in the country."

When asked about the possibility of tuition hikes, Minister of Labour and Advanced Education Kelly Regan said that the university would not be raising tuition fees any more than the regular three per-cent.

“They can have a one-time market adjustment and that would only be in certain circumstances,” said Regan.

One such circumstance is if the university is charging less for certain programs than other competing institutions in the province and across the country.

For students studying at Dalhousie, the idea of tuition fee hikes are raising some red flags.

“Considering I’m paying for it all myself it makes it a bit more of a burden than usual,” said Tate Linzel.

“It’s unfair that they have to pay more just because of what they’re choosing to do with their lives,” said first-year engineering student Lina Morales.

READ MORE: N.B. students and grads take to social media to protest slashed tuition rebate

Dalhousie has only requested an adjustment, however students are still disappointed that the university is even considering an increase.

“Dalhousie has 160-million in surplus funds, it would take 3.6-million of that to freeze tuition this year, that’s what we should be pushing for instead,” said Hutton. “We can make education affordable, it’s just a matter of choices.”

A spokesperson for Dalhousie said on Thursday that the tuition price for the 2015-2016 year has already been set, and that any changes have to go through an open consultation process, meaning any changes wouldn’t affect the coming school year.