Brandon plans on new ancillaries

Tessa Vanderhart Staff

Brandon University may again lead the province in introducing new ancillary fees for September, with a motion to pass new fees currently on the agenda for the next Board of Governors (BoG) meeting.

Mitch Obach, Brandon University Students’ Union (BUSU) president, said that the university has made clear its intent to introduce a new $3 per credit student services fee, which would amount to $90 for full-time students.

The BU budget — which includes the collection of these fees — will be voted on by the university’s BoG on April 27.

“That’s when we’ll know, I guess, if that passes or not,” said Obach.

BU communications officer Kelly Stifora said that more information on the university’s budget would be available after it is released, adding that more decisions about ancillary fees may be made at the May BoG meeting.

Last year, BU was first to announce technology fees, eventually leading to the announcement of millions of dollars funding from the provincial government, including $545, 000 for BU and $6.9 million for the U of M.

All provincial universities passed new ancillary fees in 2005-06 budgets: Brandon’s $412 fee was followed by U of W’s $150 ancillary in April BoG meetings, as were CUSB’s $150 ancillary fees. All four institutions included the new ancillary fees on a permanent basis, meaning that they do not need to be passed each year, but are already scheduled for collection this fall.

The University of Manitoba voted to introduce a $150 technology fee last April, collected in Sept. 2005, as well as three other ancillary fees on May 17, 2005. The remaining three fees, totaling $315, were not collected as a result of the provincial funding.

This year, the province promised to keep the tuition fee freeze for the 10th consecutive year, with $60 million in new post-secondary funding over the next three years.