TANNARA YELLAND
Associate News Editor

After a heated and at times confusing debate, University Students’ Council voted on March 11 to decrease health and dental fees by $8.88.

Studentcare representative Kristen Foster was at USC to give a presentation on the status of University of Saskatchewan students’ health and dental plan rates. Based on the fact that there are two areas in which University of Saskatchewan students are running a budget, Foster said it would be feasible to reduce fees by as much as $13.59, but that this would be inadvisable.

Council landed on the net amount of $8.88 because dental fees are actually increasing by $1.12. A decrease in fees of $10.00 will account for that increase and result in the $8.88 decrease students will see on their statements. Foster had advised against decreasing fees by the entire $13.59, because it could lead to dramatic spikes in fees in future years, something students are expected to have a problem with.

“My professional counsel,” said Foster, “is to decrease the fee where you can, but… make sure what students see on their statements is relatively stable.”

The two surpluses currently being run are due to several factors, including a small decrease in the number of students enrolling in the plan since the 2006-07 year and fewer claims being made.

The amount of money collected from students in fees was less than the amount the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union had to pay Studentcare, leading to a surplus of money still controlled by the USSU. As well, the USSU paid insurance companies more for insurance claims than was actually necessary. This led to a surplus of about $30,000 that is controlled by insurance companies and can only be used to pay premiums.

Foster added that council could add benefits rather than cut fees if members so wished, especially since questioning on campus had revealed that 96 per cent of U of S students would like increased vision care if it could be done without raising fees. Since there is currently a surplus in two different areas, Foster suggested using the $30,000 surplus under the control of insurance companies to increase vision care from $75 to $100.

This increase would cost around $2 per student and use 60 per cent of the reserve, according to Foster. Students would not see any change in their fees because this money has already been collected and is in the hands of insurance companies.

Pharmacy and nutrition councillor Roger Loor asked if it would make more sense to use up the entire $30,000 currently controlled by insurance companies. Then the surplus would be totally under the USSU’s control. Students’ union General Manager Caroline Cottrell said this would lead to an artificial reduction in fees and the need to raise fees drastically might arise in the next few years.

After much heated back-and-forth debate, Loor explained that his proposition was not to spend the entire deposit fund currently in the insurance companies’ hands as well as a majority of the money the USSU controls. It was to spend all the money the USSU does not control so that all of the surplus would be in the hands of the USSU.

“We’ve got two surplus cushions” to fall back on, Loor said. “We might as well consolidate those two cushions so that we control that money.”

Alecia Nagy, representative for the Edwards School of Business, reflected what seemed to be common confusion when she asked whether that would still lead to the resulting “cushion” being smaller than if the two funds were treated as separate, a question to which nobody had a complete answer.

The widespread bewilderment led USSU vice-president student affairs Ben Fawcett to ask Foster what the “potential downfalls” would be if the deposit fund, the surplus the USSU does not control, were simply not used for the time being.

“There’s no difference,” Foster said, “as long as there’s a cushion somewhere.”

Following the lengthy debate, council voted in favour of reducing health and dental fees by a total of $8.88 for the 2010-11 school year. There was no motion made to increase vision care or to deal with the deposit fund.

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photo: Flickr