Notes from Council: Tuition increase proposal for 2025–26
Domestic tuition is proposed to increase again by two per cent for the 2025–2026 academic year.
“Notes from Council” is The Gateway’s ongoing series of recaps of noteworthy items from Students’ Council meetings.
The November 19 meeting of the University of Alberta Students’ Union (UASU) Students’ Council featured four presentations, one of which was a presentation on the university’s tuition proposal for next year. Other presentations included the Senate Strategic Plan, the Office of the Vice-Provost (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion)‘s draft Integrated Action Plan, and the Campus Food Bank‘s (CFB) organizational structure update.
Tuition proposal for 2025–26 aims to increase domestic tuition by two per cent
Melissa Padfield, deputy provost (students and enrolment), presented the tuition proposal plan for the 2025–26 academic year. According to Padfield, the proposed tuition increase is two per cent for domestic students. The university will hold the domestic tuition offset at approximately $8.5 million and will not propose any additional offsets.
International students beginning their degrees in fall 2026 will see tuition increases of 10 per cent. This applies to all programs. The tuition offset will continue at 8.55 per cent. Course-based international graduate students beginning their degrees in fall 2026 will also see tuition increases of 10 per cent. The tuition proposal for thesis-based international graduate students is still under discussion.
This would be the sixth consecutive year of tuition increases at the U of A following the approval of a tuition increase in March 2024. March’s approved tuition increases were two per cent for domestic students and five per cent for international students beginning their degree in fall 2025.
According to Padfield, tuition covers various expenses at the U of A such as instructor salaries, classroom maintenance, utilities, research, and more. Padfield stated that in 2024–25, $23.2 million, which equates to 5.5 per cent of tuition revenue, is going towards student financial support.
Padfield highlights cost drivers that factor into tuition increase proposals
Per the presentation, the university is experiencing several increasing cost drivers. One of the cost drivers is inflation, which is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). According to Statistics Canada, CPI represents changes in prices experienced by Canadian consumers.
The presentation cited several other specific cost drivers. These cost drivers are salaries and benefits at 57 per cent of costs; materials and supplies at 18 per cent; utilities at three per cent; maintenance costs at four per cent; and other cost drivers at 18 per cent.
The presentation also mentioned that legislated tuition caps have created funding gaps. In 2023 the Government of Alberta introduced a two per cent tuition cap for domestic students. This cap went into effect beginning in 2024–25. Padfield explained that the difference between an increase of two per cent and an increase at CPI of 3.2 per cent creates a $3 million revenue gap.
In addition to cost drivers and funding gaps, Padfield cited “a desire to maintain quality of instruction and academic mission” as a reason for tuition increases.
“Our operating grant is from the government and we’ve had a decrease of $222 million over the last three years,” Padfield said. According to the presentation, the university now has the lowest per-student funding of any major university in Western Canada.
Councillor raises concerns regarding the U of A’s investments
Law Councillor Farshad Labbaf raised concerns regarding U of A investments and financial management.
“Students face increasing hardships, rising food prices, and unaffordable housing while their wages as workers remain stagnant,” Labbaf said.
Labbaf addressed investment choices made by the U of A. He stated that no investments were made in housing, the CFB, or other forms of financial relief for students. Instead the university has invested millions of dollars in “corporations like Walmart and President’s Choice,” Labbaf said.
“This university has invested millions of dollars in entities like Glencore, which has been implicated in human rights abuses in the Congo; Booking Holdings, which is involved in illegal settlements in occupied Palestine; and Saudi Arabian Oil, which I believe speaks for itself,” Labbaf said.
As of 2023, Glencore is no longer present in the university’s investment holding disclosure documents.
Padfield commented that “the university is genuine and sincere in its desire to ensure that we have ethical standards of investment.”
Senate strategic plan, EDI draft action plan, and CFB presentations
Pedro Almeida, a member of the U of A Senate, presented the Senate Strategic Plan. He aimed to gather feedback to take into consideration as the Senate devises its new five-year strategic plan.
The Office of the Vice Provost (EDI) presented the draft Integrated Action Plan. Their presentation highlighted student participation in the process, as well as some commitments for the plan. These commitments are to design an evaluative framework, develop mechanisms for reporting and community feedback, develop a community-facing dashboard, and gather community members in solution-focused working meetings. The presenters, Carrie Smith, vice-provost (EDI) and Tom Ira, portfolio initiatives manager (EDI), also requested feedback from councillors through a discussion portion after the presentation.
Erin O’Neil, executive director of the CFB, presented an organizational update. The presentation highlighted the CFB’s progression since 2020. In 2020–21 the CFB saw 159 visits per month. So far in 2024–25 the CFB is seeing 1,100 visits per month. O’Neil provided council with the CFB’s financial statements and plans for the future. One of which is running a series of consultations to gather insight and feedback from the community.