Carleton has not yet made decisions on new tuition fee rules set out by the Ontario government, partly because of a lack of clarity on what the changes will mean, said Duncan Watt, vice-president (finance and administration).
In December 2013, the Ontario Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities announced new rules for how post-secondary students can pay their tuition fees.
Under the new rules for the 2014-15 academic year, students will be able to pay their tuition in per-term instalments without paying deferral fees or interest charges.
Watt said the lack of clarity is a common problem for all Ontario universities. Carleton’s intent is to have the issue sorted out before mid-March, he said.
The new tuition rules also let students receiving OSAP who apply before August to pay tuition after they receive financial aid.
Thirty-six per cent of full-time undergraduate students in 2013-14 at Carleton received an OSAP loan, according to Bruce Winer, assistant vice-president (institutional research and planning).
The new changes may mean universities won’t be making the same revenue from deferral fees as they had in the past.
According to Carleton’s proposed budget for the 2013-14 school year the university is projected to make $1.6 million in revenue from deferred payment and late registration.
It’s unclear how much the university will lose in revenue when the rule changes are implemented.
Amir Eftekarpour, president of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, said he was happy with the government’s actions.
He said it gives students more “realistic methods to pay tuition” and it relieves the pressure of paying in one lump sum.
However, he said he would like to see the government go even further by implementing per-credit tuition.
Currently students with a course load of 3.5 credits or more automatically pay for five credits.
According to a news release from the ministry, students will be charged on a per-credit basis if they take less than a 70 per cent, or 3.5 credit, course load beginning in the fall of 2015 and in 2016 that number will rise to 80 percent, or 4.0 courses.
Students with a disability will be charged on a per-credit basis regardless of course load.
