Manitoba government flunks proposed big fee hike for university grad students

WINNIPEG—Manitoba’s Education and Advanced Learning minister has told the University of Manitoba to withdraw a proposed increase of more than 326 per cent in its continuing fees for graduate students.

James Allum says the requested hike is contrary to everything the NDP government has done in the last 15 years to make university accessible and affordable.

The NDP government had rejected similar U of M proposals for huge graduate continuing-fee jumps in 2003 and 2010.

The fees are paid by students working on their master’s and PhD theses after finishing all course and program work.

The U of M told its graduate students May 6 that it hopes for provincial approval to increase continuing fees to $3,000 from $703.15 a year by September 2016.

Jay Doering, dean of graduate studies, said earlier this week the U of M wants parity with the University of Winnipeg’s continuing fees and wants to close the gap with the other large universities in Canada.