ISA tuition town hall discusses tuition offset and payment plans
Students were able to voice their concerns regarding international tuition to university administration.
Helen ZhangOn February 19, the International Students’ Association (ISA) hosted a tuition town hall. The event was offered in-person and online.
Melissa Padfield, deputy provost (students and enrolment), presented on proposed international tuition increases and answered students’ questions.
The University of Alberta is proposing a 5.5 per cent increase for new international undergraduate students starting in fall 2027. However, there’s exceptions for computing science and nursing programs.
Undergraduate computing science tuition has been proposed to be harmonized with the tuition rate for undergraduate engineering programs. This is a proportional increase of approximately 26 per cent.
Additionally, there’s a proposal to increase the undergraduate nursing tuition to align with tuition levels of peer institutions. This would result in an increase of about 20 per cent.
The university is looking to reduce international thesis-based tuition by 5.5 per cent in fall 2027.
University to implement payment plan pilot for international students
ISA President Abdullah Al Anik inquired about the university’s advocacy efforts to secure more funding from the provincial or federal government.
Padfield said the university emphasizes the importance of international students to the U of A’s campus community in conversations with government.
“We really want to reaffirm how important that is to both Canada and Alberta’s economy, but also into the way in which we have a richer learning environment here so we can be more effective at our educational mission,” Padfield said.
Karina Banerji, undergraduate Board of Governors (BoG) representative, asked why the “increases in our tuition offset for financial aid is not going to match the financial aid demand that will be anticipated with those increases in 2027.”
Padfield responded saying that the university doesn’t “know that the need is going to increase with those increased tuition proposals.”
She also said the university anticipates “being able to continue to enrol high quality students from a variety of locations around the world” with these proposed changes.
Additionally, UASU President Pedro Almeida asked Padfield to give an overview of what the international student payment plan will entail for students.
Padfield said the university is working with a third-party agency to determine which payment plan would be best for students.
She also said this development process “started with the principle that international students would get the biggest benefit from a payment plan recognizing the higher cost of their tuition, and that [they’re] paying a program-based tuition.”
Updates on UASU and GSA proposals
Padfield offered updates on proposals from the U of A Students’ Union (UASU) and Graduate Students’ Association (GSA).
The UASU proposed that the university implement a payment plan for international students. Padfield said the university will implement a payment plan pilot for all graduate and undergraduate international students, beginning in fall 2026.
“That will be implemented for your fall tuition installments, you will have the opportunity, should it make sense for you, to participate in a payment plan,” Padfield said.
The UASU also proposed the development of process guidelines for student-approved exceptional tuition increase (ETI) proposals.
Padfield said the university will be working with the UASU and others to outline the process, and they’re aiming to have that in place for the coming fall.
Another UASU proposal was to set aside approximately 0.25 per cent of international tuition revenue to create training, resources, or central roles necessary to enhance academic advising.
Padfield said this will be addressed through the Enhancing Advising Project.
The GSA asked to establish an approach for course-based Master’s scholarships for fall 2026. Padfield said the university has these scholarships in place for fall 2026.
The GSA also advocated to have the university protect and strengthen funding for thesis-based graduate students. Padfield said the university has put this on hold until the outcome of the Mintz panel recommendation implementation is known.
This will give the university information on what non-repayable aid supports may be in place, as well as what the funding formulas look like for various types of programming, she said.
BoG will vote to approve proposed tuition increases on March 27.
