Hey UESA!

 

This year, when you go to pay your tuition fees, you will notice that there will be some changes to how you can continue to support and engage in campus life. 

 

1 - What are the changes?

 

The Student Choice Initiative creates provincially mandated guidelines for universities to follow in administering fees to students. This initiative mandates some fees administered by the University of Ottawa Students Union (UOSU) to be optional, and some to be mandatory. 

 

These are fees that University of Ottawa students have voted into existence through referenda, recognizing the need for the services that they fund. The existence of these fees have allowed campus life to thrive and meet the changing needs of uOttawa students.

2 - What will be affected?

 

While the majority of fees administered by the UOSU will be deemed mandatory, two very important levies have been deemed optional. 

 

The first is the student life fee. The student life fee of $23 (for Full time students), covers Federated Bodies, Clubs, UOSU Social events, 101-week, the Racialized and Indigenous Student Experience Centre, the Multi-Faith Centre, the International House, and much more. 

 

The other fee that has been deemed optional is the financial aid fee. This year, the entirety of the financial aid fee will be going towards our Student Refugee Program, which funds the first year of studies for six refugees at the University of Ottawa.

 

Without proper funding, these services will not be able to provide the same levels of programming and community that have supported students from various backgrounds for generations on this campus. 

 

3 - How will your Student Association be affected?

 

The UESA will also be impacted by this change. The vast majority of our funding comes from Student Life fees and we will not be able to operate our social, academic or professional development events without this funding. 

 

Over the years since the UESA’s founding, we have worked hard to make studying in the English Literature program a fulfilling experience on both the personal and professional levels. We host the annual Lit Week, which includes career development events such as the Pathways Panel; writing, publishing, and poetry workshops; and a number of literary themed scholarships. We also strive to provide social and networking events such as our annual Yule Ball, Wine and Cheese nights, trivia events, and more.

 

This year, we want to bring back the events you know while continuing to grow our association to better meet the needs of students. We would like to continue to provide social events, while also growing the events geared toward professional and career development. 

 

The UESA will only be able to provide this programming if we, the students, continue to pay our student fees.

 

4 - Why does this affect you?

 

How our student body reacts to these changes will greatly impact the campus services that shape student life at uOttawa. A loss to any of the services impacted by these changes would represent a great loss to be felt across our campus community at large.

 

Continuing to support these services builds our campus community and ensures that you, and all students, are able to make the most of your university experience. 

 

With any questions regarding the changes, services impacted, or how you can mobilize to promote student services, please contact president@uesa.ca.

 

The UESA Executive