DSU Website 8/13/21 DSU Website 8/13/21

Open Letter to Provincial Party Leaders

We need a government that will invest in the future of young people in this province. We're sending an open letter to our party leaders calling on them to prioritize the needs of students.

Students Need Action:
Open Letter to Provincial Party Leaders

August 13, 2021

To: The Right Honorable Iain Rankin, Tim Houston, Gary Burrill, and Jessica Alexander

Dear Party Leaders,

As we approach an election in Nova Scotia, post-secondary students across the province want to know what your party’s commitment to young people will be if elected. Students and young people continue to be left behind in platforms as well in practice. We need a government that will invest in the future of young people in this province.

On behalf of over 19,000 students studying at Dalhousie University, as well as other student organizations in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, we are calling on the party elected in August to commit to the following:

1. Funding for Post-Secondary Education

Nova Scotia has had the fasting rising rates of tuition in the country for almost a decade, and currently has the highest tuition fees in this country. The memorandum of understanding between the Province of Nova Scotia and the province’s universities states that each institution’s operating grant will increase by “not less than (1%) from the previous year” on a yearly basis. This mandated 1% increase is insufficient when faculty salaries, expenses, and inflation increase at faster rates. In other words, this so-called increase is effectively a cut to funding for post-secondary institutions in this province. In fact, post-secondary education in Nova Scotia has been chronically underfunded for decades.

Skyrocketing tuition fees are directly linked to the lack of government funding for post-secondary education. More and more of the costs of running and maintaining our universities are being offloaded onto students, but it does not have to be this way. Education is both a right and a necessity within today’s society and we need public investment in our public education system. Students need long-term, sustainable government funding for Post-Secondary Institutions in this province. This is a necessary step to move towards universally accessible education for all.

2. Affordable and Accessible Housing

Halifax is in a housing crisis and students are struggling. Vacancy rates in HRM are some of the lowest in the country, rental prices are increasing, the cost of education continues to rise, and the amount of housing that post-secondary institutions provide to students has decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students need accessible, safe, and affordable housing now.

Most students are renters and are therefore in need of renter protections including but not limited to permanent rent control. Permanent rent control cannot be the only solution, however, and cannot be done in a vacuum. All 95 recommendations in the “Keys to a Housing Secure Future For All Nova Scotians” report by the Housing for All Working Group must be implemented to ensure a holistic solution to the housing crisis which prioritizes those who are most disproportionately impacted by houselessness and housing insecurity—including women, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, African Nova Scotians, Indigenous peoples, migrants, and those with disabilities.

One of the key measures to ensure affordable housing for students is to increase the province’s minimum wage immediately, with the long-term goal of increasing it to a living wage. Additional income support must also be provided for Employment Support and Income Assistance (ESIA) recipients to close the poverty gap for those accessing these supports. Many of these recipients have disabilities, and it is vitally important that people with disabilities can access affordable housing that is also physically accessible.

3. Reconciliation with Indigenous Communities
It has been more than five years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report was published, and little progress has been made for Mi’kmaq and Indigenous students in Mi’kma’ki. The Nova Scotia government must implement all 94 Calls to Action in the TRC’s report, as well as all 231 Calls to Action in the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA Peoples.

Specifically, students need the government to work with post-secondary institutions to implement the calls to action directly related to education. For those calls to action that are not directly under the authority of the province to implement, rather than dismissing them as “under federal jurisdiction” the Nova Scotia government must advocate relentlessly for the federal government to implement these calls to action, on behalf of Indigenous learners and communities in Mi’kma’ki. This includes the 11th call to action in the TRC’s report, which calls upon the federal government to provide adequate funding to end the backlog of First Nations students seeking a post-secondary education. Indigenous peoples need access to post-secondary education in Mi’kma’ki.

4. Addressing the Climate Crisis

The climate crisis is a serious threat not just for our future but for our present. We are already seeing the devastating effects of climate change on communities around the world in the form

of severe weather events such as wildfires. Immediate and bold government action is needed to address the climate crisis.

Students need the party elected this August to commit to building no new fossil fuel infrastructure, with the overarching aim of bringing Nova Scotia to 100% fossil fuel free by 2040 at the latest. The elected party must work to ensure that 90% of Nova Scotia’s electricity needs are supplied with renewable energy by 2030 and include a just transition for students and workers in high-carbon industries. Central to this work will be the establishment of a provincial Environmental Equity Working Group that includes a race-equity lens to environmental decision-making. In order to address the climate crisis, the provincial government must work directly with Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotian communities.

5. Support for International Students and Migrants

International student and migrant voices must be heard this election season. International students and migrants contribute so much to Nova Scotian post-secondary institutions and economy, yet they pay exorbitant tuition fees—more than double the amount compared to domestic students—and are unable to immediately access health insurance when they arrive in Canada.

Post-secondary institutions cannot continue to be allowed to use international students as cash cows to sustain their institutions. We need the Nova Scotia government to regulate tuition fees in this province and eliminate differential fees for international students. The provincial government must also immediately provide Medical Services Insurance (MSI) to international students and migrants upon arrival. As a province in a country that prides itself on its free healthcare, it is unacceptable to make anyone wait to be able to access health insurance after they arrive in Nova Scotia. Moreover, all migrants—including international students with study permits—need full and permanent resident status now and universal access to provincial services.

We look forward to hearing how your party plans to adopt and address many of the student issues outlined above. As the population of youth continues to grow within this province, it is crucial that if elected, your party takes intentional steps to create and adopt the appropriate legislation to support a post-secondary learning environment that is accessible to all students and is reflective of our diverse needs. Students are the future of this province, accessible and high-quality of education are the foundation of this future.

Signed,

Dalhousie Student Union

Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group (NSPIRG)

King’s Students’ Union

Canadian Federation of Students Nova Scotia

Party leader emails:

office@liberal.ns.ca,
info@iainrankin.ca,
gpns@greenpartyns.ca,
leader@greenpartyns.ca,
info@pcparty.ns.ca,
tim.houston@gmail.com,
gary.burrill@nsndp.ca,
feedback@nsndp.ca

DSU Website 4/15/21 DSU Website 4/15/21

DSU holding Reject the Fees rally on April 20th in response to tuition increase

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, students at Dalhousie University and other post-secondary institutions across the province, have been asking both their institutions and provincial government to provide better supports that will directly impact students.

For immediate release.

April 15, 2021

In response to the proposed tuition fee increase announced by Dalhousie University on February 25, 2021, students at Dalhousie University and the University of King’s College are holding a rally to lobby the University to adopt the three asks of the Reject the Fees campaign:

Remove tuition fee increases and freeze tuition for all students
Develop a sustainable operating budget that moves towards universally affordable
and accessible education
Lobby the provincial and federal government to increase funding for post-secondary institutions

To learn more about our campaign, visit dsu.ca/reject-the-fees.

The Reject the Fees rally will take place on Dalhousie University’s Studley Quad at 1:30 pm on April 20th.

For media inquiries:

Holly Edmonds
Communications and Outreach Coordinator
dsucomm@dal.ca | 902-494-6226

Quick facts:

·On February 25, 2021, Dalhousie University announced yet another 3% increase in tuition and an additional $1473 for international students.
In 2008 students in Nova Scotia successfully lobbied both university administrators and the provincial government for a three-year tuition freeze.
The Dalhousie University Board of Governors (BoG) will vote on the proposed 2021-22 budget at the
BoG meeting on April 20th.

Download media release PDF:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b460941a9e0285288d59058/t/60784be32395726bc38eb90e/1618496483959/20210415+DSU+holding+Reject+the+Fees+rally+on+April+20th+in+response+to+tuition+increase.pdf

DSU Website 4/15/21 DSU Website 4/15/21

Open letter to the Dalhousie Budget Advisory Committee

On behalf of over 19,000 students studying at Dalhousie University, we are sharing our concerns regarding Dalhousie University’s proposed 2021/22 budget. At the beginning of the summer 2020 semester, the DSU and its members voiced concerns about the 3% tuition increase instated this past Fall, and the additional $1473 increase for International students.

Open letter to the Dalhousie Budget Advisory Committee

March 9, 2021

To: BAC Chair, acting Provost Frank Harvey, and Vice President Finance & Admin Gitta Kulczycki,

Since then, the DSU has continued to advocate for adequate support for students whose finances and wellbeing have been negatively impacted by the pandemic and increased university fees. The DSU is recommending that Dalhousie do the following:

Remove all tuition increases and freeze tuition for both domestic and international students.
Develop a sustainable budget that moves towards universally accessible education.
Lobby the provincial and federal government to increase funding for post-secondary institutions.

Remove all tuition increases and freeze tuition for both domestic and international students.

Students on campus continue to voice concerns about the rising cost of tuition and financial barriers attached to accessing post-secondary education. When quarantine restrictions were implemented across the globe last March, the precarious nature of students’ financial realities only heightened. Many students faced and continue to face loss of employment, food insecurity and increasing anxiety given the global uncertainty.

International students in Nova Scotia continue to pay upwards of $19, 000 and climbing each year, which is more than double the amount of tuition that their domestic peers pay.

Moreover, they have significantly less health care coverage, more barriers preventing them from accessing CERB and other financial assistance programs, and this year alone the both the province and the university has already required them to pay up to $1600 in hotel costs to return to Halifax, which was not required by students entering the province from other regions of Canada or Canadian students who were returning from an international trip.

Dalhousie prides itself on claiming to create a fair, diverse, and accessible community. Raising international student fees exorbitantly and defending the decision by comparing these fees to others in the country directly contradicts these claims. If Dalhousie wants to create a fair and accessible community on campus and online for the international community, they must prioritize the wellbeing of their current students who cannot continue to pay these rising fees.

As our one-year anniversary of the pandemic quickly approaches, a promising solution that caters to the immediate needs of students has yet to be presented. Imposing increases in tuition fees during a pandemic shows that Dalhousie University has not taken the necessary steps to address the financial concerns faced
by all students. Moreover, the lack of engagement with students about this issue and possible solutions is creating an environment of distrust between students and Dalhousie’s administration. Dalhousie can begin
to amend the divide by removing all proposed tuition increases for the 2021/2022 academic year and freezing tuition.

Develop a sustainable budget that moves towards universally accessible education.

Given the current global circumstances, Dalhousie is still projecting an increase in enrollment by 4.8%. Tuition currently makes up over 42% of Dalhousie current revenue, meaning students are the institution's second largest investor. To ensure our campus is equipped with the supports and services needed to create a healthy learning environment, Dalhousie must work alongside students, faculty and staff to ensure the budget is reflective of our needs.

The 2021-2022 draft budget included investments into a variety of grant and scholarship programs, such as the First Nations and Indigenous Black (FNIB) Student Scholarship.

Scholarships for marginalized groups must be maintained to assist groups who face systematic barriers when accessing post-secondary education. However, blanket scholarships intended to bridge the divide created by rising tuition fees are insufficient, largely because they can only be obtained by a fraction of the student population and at-risk students are falling through the system’s cracks. These funds should be used to decrease or stabilize current tuition and ancillary fees for all students.

Lobby the provincial and federal government to increase funding for post-secondary institutions.

We can work alongside each other and lobby the federal and provincial governments to increase their funding to post-secondary institutions. The current memorandum of understanding between the Province of Nova Scotia and the province’s universities states that each institution’s Operating Grant will increase by “not less than (1%) from the previous year” on a yearly basis. This mandated 1% increase is insufficient when faculty salaries, expenses, and inflation increase at faster rates.

In 2010/2011, 60% of Dalhousie University’s revenue was from government sources, with only 31% of revenue coming from tuition and fees. Last year, government funding (49%) barely edged out tuition and fee revenue (42%). More and more of the costs of running and maintaining our universities are being offloaded onto students. Education is both a right and a necessity within today’s society. We need public investment in our public education system. For us to maintain the development of innovative technology, we must ensure the institutions that fund them are adequately funded, and not at the expense of students.

In conclusion, we call on the Budget Advisory Committee to develop a 2021-2022 draft operating budget that does not include tuition fee and fee increases.

Furthermore, students want to see a longer timeframe for their feedback to be sought and considered by BAC. We ask that initial feedback be collected via email up until April 1, 2021 and frequent communications and updates are made available following the deadline.

Students need the University to step up and seriously consider a new path forward with this operating budget—one that is reflective of the long-term wellbeing of students and the need for accessible post-secondary education in our province and in this country.

Signed,