A good news budget

Tuition will go down for Nova Scotian students in the fall.

Dalhousie UniversityÕs 2007-08 operating budget increases the financial aid available to students, lowers tuition rates for Nova Scotians by $500, and freezes tuition for all other Canadians. The budget was approved by the Board of Governors at its annual meeting on June 19.

ÒDalhousie was founded on the principle of accessibility.” Dalhousie President Tom Traves said. ÒAccess to higher education, to all who have the ability, is among our proudest traditions. Today, more than anything, that means we have to find ways to keep the doors to Dalhousie open to talented but economically disadvantaged students.”

A total of almost $44 million was allocated by the university to a range of programs that offer financial support to students, including scholarships, bursaries, fee waivers and on-campus student jobs.

About half the tuition revenue Dalhousie takes in is now redistributed back to students through these various aid programs.

The $500 reduction in tuition for Nova Scotian students is part of an agreement with the province that brought increased grants to all Nova Scotia universities. The same agreement allowed universities to freeze tuition in undergraduate programs. Dalhousie extended that freeze to all its graduate and professional programs, as well. The only increase implemented for 2007-08 is the international student Òdifferential.”  Most Canadian universities charge an additional fee to non-Canadian students.

Included in the student support package adopted at Dalhousie is a fee-waiver for qualified PhD. candidates.

DalhousieÕs 2007-08 operating budget is balanced, and anticipates operating costs of $252 million, an increase of about five per cent over last year. Another significant spending increase is in facilities and classroom renovations and upgrades.

***

ItÕs back to the drawing board for the Coburg Tower project. After three cost escalations in three years, the project is being reconsidered.

ÒStructural deficiencies came to light only recently,” said Jim Spatz, chair of the Board of Governors' operations committee. ÒThe conclusion of our discussions is that this is not a viable project for the university.”

The project would have renovated and upgraded the six-storey building at Coburg Road and LeMarchant Street and demolished the dilapidated church next to it. The renovated building was to be the home of Continuing Education, now located in City Centre Atlantic, as well as provide additional research space for the Faculty of Computer Science. The project was originally estimated at $5.8 million Ñ a figure that has since risen to $9.8 million. 

In the next few weeks, Dalhousie staff will brainstorm alternative uses for the 18,000-square-foot site, which has been fenced.

***

Dalhousie Student Union wants the federal government to top up the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation.

Since 2000, the foundation has delivered more than half a million bursaries and scholarships worth more than $1.5 billion to students across Canada. Its needs-based bursaries have assisted hundreds of thousands of Canadian students as they pursue their post-secondary education by reducing their student debt.

But DSU president Mike Tipping says unless funding for the private, independent foundation is replenished, its money will dry up by 2009. The renewal or replacement of the Millennium Scholarships is also the priority of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations.

In 2006, more than 1,800 Dalhousie students were awarded Millennium bursaries and awards totaling more than $5 million.

Dalhousie president Tom Traves says the university stands alongside student groups in advocating for the fund.