BoG approves proposed exceptional tuition increases

At the December 12 meeting of the University of Alberta’s Board of Governors (BoG), a motion to approve proposed exceptional tuition increases (ETIs), pending approval of the Minister of Advanced Education, passed.

Motions to approve the revised IT security policy and the U of A’s proposed organizational values both carried. Both items have been discussed extensively at previous BoG and General Faculties Council (GFC) meetings.

University anticipating another flat operating grant

Additionally, a motion to approve the proposed budget drivers that will be used to develop the 2026–27 consolidated budget passed.

Todd Gilchrist, vice-president (university services, operations, and finance), presented the motion. Gilchrist said the university is “fully planning on presenting a balanced budget in March for 2026–27.”

The university is also projecting a balanced budget for 2027–28, he said. Gilchrist mentioned that the university is anticipating another flat operating grant from the provincial government. Should that happen, it’ll be the fourth consecutive year that the U of A has had a flat operating grant.

Gilchrist mentioned a four per cent across-the-board increase for residence rates, which “reflects the inflationary costs that we’re seeing this year,” he said. The university is looking at a five per cent increase for meal plans, with the primary cost driver being the cost of food.

He also discussed a two per cent increase for parking rates. The university increased the price of monthly parking permits by 20 per cent on April 1, 2025. Despite this “fairly dramatic increase,” the university is “not seeing a reduction in demand,” Gilchrist said.

ETIs necessary to maintain program quality, Yiu says

The province has a two per cent per year cap on domestic tuition increases. ETIs are increases over this cap.

Provost and Vice-president (academic) Verna Yiu presented the motion to approve ETI proposals for the faculties of education and nursing. If approved by the Minister of Advanced Education, the ETIs will take effect in fall 2026 for incoming students only.

In the faculty of education, a 50 per cent increase was proposed for the masters of school and clinical child psychology program.

The faculty of nursing proposed three ETIs. These include 75 per cent increases for course-based and thesis-based masters of nursing programs, and a 20 per cent increase to nursing PhD programs.

According to Yiu, revenue from these ETIs will support initiatives including enhanced student services, Indigenous initiatives, and technology enhancements. Yiu mentioned that the Nursing Graduate Students’ Association has expressed their concerns with the ETIs with BoG.

“We absolutely acknowledge that the increase is significant. However, it is important to know that nursing has actually never applied for an ETI before,” Yiu said. “The nursing programs are ranked the best in Canada, and across the world, and investments are really required to continue to maintain their program quality.”

Proposed tuition increases for domestic and international students

Additionally, Yiu presented a tuition briefing. The university is proposing a two per cent tuition increase for domestic undergraduate and graduate students for fall 2026. On March 28, 2025, BoG approved a 10 per cent tuition increase for new international undergraduate and course-based graduate students in most programs starting fall 2026.

A 5.5 per cent increase has been proposed for new international undergraduate students in fall 2027. However, exceptions have been made for computing science and nursing programs.

The university has proposed to increase the undergraduate computing science program tuition to align with the tuition rate for undergraduate engineering programs. There’s also a proposal to increase the undergraduate nursing tuition to align with tuition levels of peer institutions.

“We may have some additional exceptions to the 5.5 per cent increase as we work more closely with individual programs to assess market conditions,” Yiu said.

Additionally, Yiu said the university is moving forward with a recommendation to reduce international thesis-based tuition by 5.5 per cent in fall 2027. A 5.5 per cent increase has been proposed for most international course-based graduate programs in fall 2027.

BoG will vote on approving the 2026–27 consolidated budget and tuition increases in March.