( Photo: Jamie Rodger )

On March 6, a University of Manitoba student filed a lawsuit against her university over what she calls “excessive” late fees that are being tacked on to student tuition.
 
At the University of Manitoba, the average tuition for an arts student is $3,143 a year, with an estimated $1,550 for additional costs such as books and supplies. Other programs cost much more.

Students who are late paying tuition, even by a day, are charged a $50 late fee. After two weeks of non-payment students are de-registered from all classes and charged a $40 fee to re-register.

Patricia Kelley, a student at the University of Manitoba, submitted a statement of claim against the university, claiming the late tuition payment fee policy is unfair.
 
Kelley’s lawyer, Norman Rosenbaum, has called the fees “criminal.”
 
In an interview with Global News, Rosenbaum said “this [fee] results in a criminal rate of interest that is prohibited under the Criminal Code of Canada.”
 
The University of Manitoba, however, is calling the payment a “flat administration fee.”
 
John Danakas, the director of public affairs at the University of Manitoba, said calling the fee “criminal” is a legal spin.
 
“It’s quite the norm in Canadian society to have to pay late fees,” he said. “It’s no different in essence from late fees that other universities and institutions charge.”
 
At Carleton, failure to pay tuition before the deadline results in an Extended Payment Charge. This interest-like charge builds up on unpaid student accounts at a rate of 5.75 per cent per year.
 
If Kelley’s statement of claim is brought to trial, it will be classified as a class-action lawsuit. Although brought forward by only one person, this lawsuit represents a large number of individuals who have had to pay the same charge.
 
Rosenbaum estimates that more than 100,000 students have been forced to pay this fee.
 
If the lawsuit is successful, the publicly-funded University of Manitoba could be forced to repay all of the students represented by the claim. Estimations put this cost into the millions of dollars.
 
Rosenbaum told the Manitoban that while “everything could have been resolved if all students pay their fees on time,” he sympathizes with students who are struggling to make ends meet.
 
The University of Manitoba plans to file a defence to the lawsuit by the end of March.