UBC Home to the Highest International Tuition Increase in Metro Vancouver Over Five Years

Of a small selection of post-secondary institutions in the Metro Vancouver area—including Kwantlen Polytechnic University, the University of the Fraser Valley, Capilano University, Simon Fraser University, and the University of British Columbia—UBC has implemented the largest increase in tuition for international students between 2013/14 and 2017/18.

Rising tuition for international students has been the source of controversy on campuses and in the media for years, with Kwantlen Polytechnic University attracting a large amount of attention for its sudden 15 per cent increase approved last summer. An international student at KPU and Surrey campus representative for the Kwantlen Student Association, Gurpreet Sabharwal, told The Runner in March that “no one expected” the increase to be approved without consultation from students, staff, and faculty.

“Our parents will pay our fee increases, so you can imagine that international students go back to their home countries and say that their fee increases by 15 per cent—it’s very hard for their families to digest this,” he said.

Assuming that this sort of response was likely shared by international students at other schools across Vancouver, and having a pre-existing knowledge of the criticism directed at KPU for its increase, I was curious to know how rates compared at other institutions in the area.

It wasn’t surprising that UBC had the highest starting point for its international tuition rates. It’s notoriously expensive to go to school there. What was surprising was the fact that it saw a more significant increase over the five years represented in my charts than any of the other four schools I analyzed.

Whether this was because the number of international students enrolling at UBC was increasing more dramatically than it was at other schools during this time is uncertain. However, what can be stated with absolute certainty is that the response from students there was quite similar to those seen at KPU. What’s more, reporting by The Ubyssey confirmed that the increase in international tuition was remarkably huge, representing a 46.8 per cent hike from 2015 to 2018.

“International tuition fees in the majority of programs will be increasing by an average of around 50 per cent over the next three years, UBC announced today. The fee increases are a result of a Board of Governors’ directive to set international fees ‘at levels that reflect UBC’s standing as a global university and the value of a UBC degree,’” reads an article published on Oct. 14, 2015. “The fee increase would ‘support the mission and excellence of the University,’ as well as placing fees at levels similar to those seen at peer institutions such as the University of Toronto and McGill.”

Almost exactly two years later, The Ubyssey also reported that students who were consulted on both domestic and international tuition increases did not feel confident that their feedback was taken into account by their university.

This reaction was also seen at SFU where, last month, students voiced their concern at a university consultation, noting that the president there earns a higher annual salary than Justin Trudeau. Subsequently, they asked the administration to cut back on staff payment to alleviate the growing financial burden on international students, which the university refused.

In response to this backlash, organizations like the B.C. Federation of Students have called on the provincial government to mandate a two per cent cap on international tuition increases. That cap already exists for domestic students, as the government already provides funding for their programming. It does not provide this money for international students, and so institutions like UBC and KPU claim that charging more for their schooling is necessary in order to deliver high-quality education.

These issues between students and administrators remain unresolved and international tuition rates continue to climb in Metro Vancouver.