The Cadre

¢ 31 March 1998

Tuition hike smaller than expected

Conservatives cut funding slightly in provincial budget

BY CINDY CAMERON

Nine students braved rain and freezing temperatures be- fore the Thursday night budget presentation to peacefully pro- test the rising cost of educa- tion.

Rallying in frontof Prov- ince House, the students greeted arriving politicians with a dummy burdened by mas- sive debt load. However the real protest took place inside, with the opposition lashing out at the government not doing enought to enhance PEI's health and education systems.

Pat Mella’s budget held few surprises. Despite a 63 percent increase in tourism revenues and what Opposition Leader Robert Morrissey called a ‘windfall’ in federal government transfer pay- ments, the Conservative gov- ernment stuck to a restrained plan for expenditures in the next year.

For UPEI students, this means tuition will increase again next year, though the exact size of the increase is still to be determined.

Mella used some of the extra $3 | millionreceived from the federal government to de- crease the current deficit. This deficit will be $9.2 million this year, down 46 percent from her original projection.

In her address, the Pro- vincial Treasurer placeda high priority on education and health care. The Conservative gov- ernment pledged undertake much-needed repairs and con- struction inIslandschools. And Mella did not ignore the needs of UPEI students.

“We have increased the allocated funding to UPEI to assist in keeping tuition lower,” she said.

Prior to the budget, the treasurer met with UPE] Presi- dent Elizabeth Epperly and

University officials who re- quested extra funding from government in order to com-

bat another tuition increase. The government decided to grant their request.

“I think we have sup- ported [post-secondary edu- cation] as much as we can at this point,” Mella said. “Once we have a balanced budget, we will be able to allocate more funds. But we’re not out of the woods yet.”

But critics of the Con- servatives budget say they could have done a lot more for PEI's health and education systems.

“This budget is a hollow document, poverty-stricken in ideas,” Opposition Leader Robert Morrissey said, point- ing to cuts in funding for acute care facilities and hospitals and post-secondary institutions.

Representatives from UPEI Student Union Execu- tive were simmilarily unpressed, grilling MLA’s fol- lowing Mella’s presentation.

Jamy-Ellen Proud, Vice President Internal, says the UPEI administration has al- ready streamlined its expendi- tures as much as possible, so more cuts would put many services in jeporady:

“There have already been cuts to departments like Fine Arts and Classics. The health centre is in danger. There is nothing left to cut. They can only increase tui- tion.”

Student Union VP Fi- nance Stephen Ramsay was also not very happy with Gov- ernment’s efforts.

“Weare still getting cut, but maybe not as much,” Ramsay said.

Mella and Gillan were unable to sway the students, despite their claims that previ- ous government overstpending and federal government trans- fer cuts were the root of the problem.

“We're doing the best we can,” Mella said.

UPEI administration agreed, saying that they were pleasantly surprised by the budget.

The University was ex- pecting to have its funding from the province cut by four per- cent which would have meant a nine percent tuition increase next year.

UPEI's operanting grant was still cut by the province, but not as much as expected.

The extra funding is likely to decrease the size of the tuition hike, but the overall fuding for the university is still slightly lower than was recieved last year.

“There is still a tuition increase but a relatively low one, lower than last year,” Vice President Academic John Crossley said. The exact size of that increase will be de-

cided on April 15.

The administration ap- plauded the efforts of students inmaking their concerns heard. Crossley says he has hear other administrators give the Stu- dent Union lobbying much of the credit for the fuding.

“It was done because students needed to have lower tuition and the students made that clear,” Crossley said.

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