Laurentian student government president warns of substantial funding cuts to ancillary programs

The way students opt in and out of ancillary fees at Laurentian University has the student government projecting an 80% drop in funding. 

Laurentian will experience opt out rates up to five times higher than other universities in the province, says the institution's student government president Eric Chappell.

Earlier this year the Ford government rolled out new rules for post-secondary institutions. One such rule states that schools must give students the option to choose which ancillary fees they will pay. 

The fees pay for all sorts of programs ranging from student news outlets to special clubs. 

Critics argued that the change would negatively impact student life, and particularly impact minority interest groups on campus. Proponents said the change would give students freedom over which programs they wished to participate in, reducing costs. 

Two problems, one system

"The problem that we ran into is we scrambled really quickly," Chappell said, to create a model that could be integrated with their course registration system. 

"The opt out model for us is mandatory in registration. So, everyone has to go through it," Chappell said.

At other schools students must, of their own accord, log on to the opt out website. This added layer of effort prevents some students from ever engaging in the process. 

The second problem has to do with the default setting in the system.

At Nipissing University in North Bay, students are automatically opted in to ancillary fees and action must be taken to opt out, according to Nipissing Students' Union president Hannah Mackie.

At Laurentian, students are given a blank slate. They must decide which fees they will or will not support, which means that opting in is not support by any kind of inertia or apathy.  

In a written statement to CBC, Laurentian officials said "We are the only university that allows students to opt in or out at the time of registration. Upon reaching the registration site, students are asked to check a box showing whether they choose to pay the optional fee or not. This is mandated by provincial guidelines. Each fee has to be checked off with their choice of in or out before students continue to course selection."

While the differences seem minor, Chappell credits them with the approximate $400,000 shortfall he expects this year. 

The future of student media

Both CKLU and the Lambda depend upon student fees for their operation. 

"We have to be more creative with fundraising this year," said CKLU general manager Rob Straughan. 

"We should, hopefully, be able to pay our daily operational, month to month bills," he said, "we'll see where we're at at this point next year." 

In an interview with CBC in early July, Lambda board member Ashley Thomson said that the paper will likely have to forego its print edition, and publish exclusively online. 

Strictly business

For many students at Laurentian, this is a matter of economics.

"Only being here four months, it doesn't really make sense for me to opt in to everything because I'm only going to be able to use it for half the year," said Matt Smith, a third year student who is going on a trip to Austria with his program.

Grace Bellmore, who is in her first year of study, opted in to all the fees but admitted that some of her friends did not.

"They didn't want to pay $80 toward a bus pass that they're not going to use," she said. 

At Nipissing University, student government is trying to have students take a long term view of the issue. 

"We don't really have a system where they can opt back in and we don't want students to get down the road, into their second semester potentially, and realize that they maybe need that service," Mackie said. 

"Let's have a conversation about what that fee actually could offer you down the road."

Next steps

For now, Chappell says he needs to see how the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities reacts. 

All he can do now, he says, is look toward the future. 

"Because we've kind of lost this year."