Carleton University’s summer tuition is increasing in 2021 due to the re-introduction of the U-Pass and Athletics fee, despite student fears that the university had arbitrarily hiked tuition fees.
While domestic undergraduate summer tuition will increase by over 18 per cent from 2020 to 2021, or an average of $267.12 across programs, both the U-Pass and access to Athletics were not offered to students last summer because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Comparing 2021 summer tuition rates to 2019, when both fees were charged, student fees increased by an average of $15.07, or less than one per cent.
Amid the confusion, students expressed disappointment with the tuition increase on Reddit. One user called for students to peacefully protest the increase. Another expressed concern that it would take over 100 hours of minimum-wage work to pay for one summer credit.
Most summer courses will be delivered remotely, Carleton president Benoit-Antoine Bacon said in a statement on March 2.
Nathaniel Black, a Board of Governors undergraduate student representative, said even without tuition increases, the summer semester should not cost students as much as a normal summer term given classes are mostly online.
“There is no reason why students should be paying the amount that we’re paying right now for the services that we are receiving,” Black said.
Final tuition fees for the summer semester will likely be approved by the Board of Governors in their next meeting in late April.
Despite tuition confusion, some students are happy to have the U-Pass back for the summer semester.
Emily Sowa, a second-year legal studies student at Carleton, said she will be taking online classes from her home in Ottawa over the summer.
She said she is happy the U-Pass will be made available as an ancillary fee this summer because she doesn’t have consistent access to a car and will need to commute elsewhere.
“Paying a little bit more to have a summer U-Pass … I think it’s worth the money because it’s so much cheaper,” Sowa said. “It’s hundreds of dollars cheaper than paying the OC Transpo fee.”
Black said he hopes students pay close attention to the issue.
“We should just all keep on top of what’s happening on the Board of Governors,” Black said. “We’ll see … if we’re going to see any type of fee adjustment.”
