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Premier Pat Binns, left, and Opposition Leader Robert Ghiz talk to the media Tuesday in

the Legislature after the provincial budget was released.

Jarrod Yeo photos

Teresa Wright-Constable

Wright-Constable is a journalism student at Holland College

It’s going to cost less to go to-university and college next year, thanks to $2.1 million in new provincial funding for a tuition rollback announced Tuesday.

As part of its provincial budget, the Pat Binns gov- ernment said it will introduce a 10 per cent tuition rollback for undergraduate students on the Island, and work in partnership with UPEI to cap tuition increases at two per cent annually over the next four years.

This announcement comes on the heels of recent lobby efforts by Island students to lower tuition fees after a 6.5 per cent hike in fees this year and a four per cent increase the year before.

With this rollback, it basi- cally costs the same to attend UPEI now as it did in

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Provincial treasurer Mitch Murphy announced the bud- get in the Legislature Tues- day, saying he believed this funding will help attract new students to the province and to help Island students deal with mounting debts.

“Rising tuition fees concern all students. More Island students are graduating and many ate forced to deal with increased debt loads,” he said. “Our government recognizes the increased burden on our students and that rising tuition fees can sometimes be a variable for those wishing to pursue post- secondary education.”

With this plan, UPEI tuition will be lowered from $4,920 for 10 courses to $4,428 next year. But with the two per cent annual increase, this plan also means tuition would be back to cur- rent levels in five years.

Student union committee releases misleading referendum report

Beth Lassaline (zsth Rob Walker and Mel Bernard) This coming September, the student body will be faced with a referendum concern- ing national representation. The referendum proposal states that students should be asked to vote on whether they want to join the Ca- nadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), who would then lobby on behalf of UPEI at the federal level for issues surrounding post

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secondary education.

This decision has come af- ter a formal proposal was re- leased by the National Repre- sentation Committee (NRC). The committee, appointed by the Student Union and made up of Student Union coun- cillors and executives, was given the task of exploring all options regarding repre-

sentation at the national level.

The two main options for representation are CASA and the Canadian Federation-of Students (CFS).

The report concluded with a motion put forth by the UPEI SU Vice President stating “...that the UPEI SU conduct a referendum in the 2007 Fall General Elec- tion asking whether or not

members of the UPEI SU are in favour of joining the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations.”

Since the release of the proposal, concerns have been raised regarding incorrect information contained in the report as well as how the committee was governed.

For instance, the commit- tee’s report states that a full time student would pay $15 a year for membership in the CFS. However, when we contacted CFS they told us students would only pay $7.50 a year, half what the committee’s report claims.

Also, there was a deal brokered between CFS and the UPEI SU in 2001 to give %45 of that membership

money directly back to pro- vincial representation, a deal no other province has. This money would be regulated by the UPEI SU and used for tuition rallies and other such projects.

Since its refusal to recog- nize its membership in the CFS, the student union never lowered its levies in response. This means that for the last two years students have been essentially paying fees for a service they are not entitled to. Where that money is be- ing spent is unknown, as it was simply lumped in with

the overall student union levy

fee. At the rates CFS quoted us, at $7.50 per student per yeat, that comes to over $25,000 per year. Going off

of the committee’s numbers, that’s over $50,000 a year.

Former committee member and student union Councilor Faiz Ahmed was concerned that the CFS was not con- tacted when the committee was compiling its research. Ahmed said this leads to a biased report.

The National Representa- tion Committee never con- tacted the CFS to ensure that the second hand information they were receiving was accu- rate, citing legal concerns.

When the Cadre contacted the CFS to verify that they were in a legal dispute with the SU, the CFS was com- pletely unaware of any legal action coming from the UPEI Student Union.