NAIT students could face a 40-percent tuition hike over the next three years, pending approval by the province and the institution’s senate.
The increase, equivalent to about $1,700 per student per year, was proposed in the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s latest business plan and would bring the average annual tuition to $5,424.
The institution would need approval to circumvent the current tuition cap, but the increase would bring NAIT tuition in line with what students pay at the Southern Alberta Institute for Technology in Calgary for the same programs.
"It’s just very scary," said Geoff Tate, president of the NAIT students’ association.
"My predecessors fought very, very hard for (a tuition cap), and in three years, that’s fallen apart."
Tuition increases in Alberta are currently tied to the consumer price index, which only allows a 1.5-percent increase for next year.
However, schools across the province are facing multimillion-dollar budget shortfalls because of the economic downturn and the provincial decision to freeze base operating grants.
Doug Horner, minister of Advanced Education and Technology, said about half of the schools in Alberta have approached him about tuition increases, at least for specific programs.
During question period Monday, he reiterated he is open to considering the proposals.
The University of Alberta plans to present specific numbers for proposed increases to professional faculties next week.
Tuition was capped in 2006, after a major student lobbying campaign.
But when that cap was applied, students at NAIT and SAIT were already paying very different tuition levels.
That gap has only grown under the capped percentage increase.
"That’s a hard place (for the institution) to be in," said Tate.
But the 40-per-cent jump would set a "very dangerous precedent," he said. "This just makes it that much harder to attend."
NAIT spokeswoman Rayne Kuntz empha-sized the business plan is a planning document and any increase would have to be approved by the senate in the spring before the institution approached the province for permission.
NAIT currently faces a$2.3-million projected shortfall for the budget year 2010-11, which is projected to increase to $7.5 million by 2012-13.
Meanwhile, University of Alberta Provost Carl Amrhein met with the U of A Students’ Union Tuesday evening to present detailed tuition increases for the professional programs.
The students voted to discuss the numbers in camera and signed confidentiality agreements to gain access to the data, because the numbers have not yet been presented to the provincial ministry.
estolte@thejournal.canwest.com
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