Final decision reached Monday after nearly two months of debating
Megan Sarrazin
news editor
A hot topic on campus recently has been the debate to increase Students’ Association (SA) fees.
During March 14’s Students’ Council meeting, the tension was high as the fee was set at $13 per credit, jumping from the current fee of $9 per credit.
The fee was decided just in time for the SA’s budget review, which was discussed on March 15.
“I’m concerned. I don’t know what else to say,” said Nils Holmgren, SA president.
“I think that the initial effect will be that programs and services for MacEwan will not receive the needed boost that they require in order to meet the demands of students at MacEwan,” he added.
Holmgren was advocating for an increase to $15 per credit — a fee that was originally accepted at the Jan. 17 council meeting. This increase was later appealed and reverted back to the original fee amount after a policy error was revealed.
Setting the fee proved difficult for council, as the fee depends solely on the number of students enrolled at the institution.
“I can tell you right now, $9 won’t cut it, $10 won’t cut it, $11 won’t cut it, we all know that,” said Jamie Fraleigh, vice president operations and finance.
“Looking at all the numbers the president has provided us, I’ll even admit $12 won’t cut it. $13 would cut it, but it would be cutting it really close. $14 we can definitely do, we do have some working room with that,” he added.
Many councillors were left wondering if the chosen fee would be enough, with others worried it could be too much.
“We were financially negligent for seven years and we need to amend this,” said councillor Russel McQuatt.
“If we set it at $15, we are ensuring that no matter what, if there’s a drop in students, etcetera, etcetera, we are covered,” he added.
SA fees have not seen an increase since 2003, despite increases to the Canadian Price Index.
Policy was recently introduced to ensure that the SA fee is evaluated on a yearly basis to prevent another fee fiasco like the one faced this year.
Only seven of the 11 councillors were present when the decision went to vote, with four councillors ultimately voting in favour of the increase and the remaining three opposed.
Councillors Josh Stock, Jed Johns, Joseph Kubelka and Matthew Bissett voted in favour of the increase to $13 per credit.
Opposed were councillors Spencer Bennett, Russel McQuatt and Kassie Russell.
The increase will take affect in the fall semester, with full-time students paying $117 per semester, which is an increase of $36 per semester.
“The outcome of this decision will be realized in greater detail by the end of tomorrow,” warned Holmgren, adding that the SA has a higher chance of running a deficit next year.
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