No more paid tuition for USSU exec

The year-old policy that pays the USSU executives’ tuition is being rescinded on the recommendation of the operations and finance board.

Scott Hitchings, USSU vice-president operations and finance, says the decision was made to take the line out of the budget for a number of reasons.

“Students are against the principle of the executive getting their tuition paid for,” he said in a later interview. “I can understand how people would feel that way.”

A movement has developed against the policy, finding expression on Facebook. The group had 378 members at press time.

“The biggest issue is that most students didn’t even know about it in the first place,” said Galen Richardson, who took the cause to University Students’ Council.

Richardson told council to make sure that when it comes time for them to vote on the budget, he would like to be present to ensure the line is actually removed.

The policy also brought up the issue of pay equity. Since the costs came out of their pay, executives who paid more for their classes would make less pay, said Hitchings.

Operations forecast

Warren Kirkland, USSU president, opened students’ council with a summary of the university’s operations forecast for 2010-2011, approved by the Board of Governors in November. The forecast outlines the university’s expected financial needs for the year and sets a target for the operating grant it will request from the provincial government.

This year the U of S will request an increase of 5.2 per cent, or $13.2 million. This would bring the grant up to $265.9 from $252 million in 2009-10. The grant represents the majority of the university’s operating revenue of over $360 million.

The university will also be requesting an additional $10 million capital grant, increasing the total provincial capital allowance to $30 million.

Kirkland said “it’s a difficult sell” given the government’s budgetary fallout over potash revenues.

The Saskatchewan Party government revealed in August that they would be taking in $1.3 billion less than expected from potash, just three months after releasing a big-spending budget built around potash royalties.

Kirkland was uncertain whether the U of S would be able to attain the requested grant increase, pending negotiations. Last year the university received a 7.2 per cent increase in its operation grant.

Tuition revenues are expected to increase by 4.5 per cent in the next year to $83.7 from $80.1 million, he said. Kirkland explained the variance in tuition between colleges is due to past agreements between college societies and their deans.

Facing a declining number of secondary students from within the province, the university will also try to recruit more international and graduate students to make up for an expected domestic decline in enrolment.