Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Board approves tuition, incidental fees

At its first meeting of the year on February 7, the University's Board of Governors voted to approve the Recommended Tuition Fees for 2017/2018 and 2018/2019.

In the broadest of terms, the tuition increase categories are as follows:

Undergraduate students (domestic):

• Regulated programs (year 1) - 3 percent
• Regulated programs (upper years) - 3 percent
• Deregulated programs (year 1) - 5 percent (with exceptions)
• Deregulated programs (upper year) - 4 percent to 5 percent
• Deregulated AFM, Biotech/CA. CFM, Math/CA (all years) – 1 percent
• Accountancy Diploma - all years - 3 percent
• Global Business & Digital Arts - all years - 3 percent
• Pharmacy - all years - 1 percent

Graduate Students (domestic):

• Specifically identified master and diploma programs - 1 percent to 5 percent
• Research Master and PhD programs - 1 percent

Variability in tuition increases from program to program is driven by a number of factors, including the relative competitiveness of Waterloo's current tuition rates with its Canadian peers and the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development (MASED, the former MTCU) tuition framework, which was updated in December 2016 and applies to the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 years.

The framework limits the overall average tuition fee increases across all domestic programs to 3 percent per year, and limits the increase for high-demand, professional undergraduate and graduate programs to 5 percent (4 percent for students registered in 2012/2013 and continuing in their programs).

The Ministry plans to implement net tuition billing, where the province will provide the student’s financial support directly to universities to lower the amount the student pays, and as such requires institutions to report on tuition fees for the next two academic years.

International tuition fees are not regulated by MASED, and are still being assessed on a one-year basis.

International Students:

• Undergraduate programs – 8.5 percent
• Deregulated AFM, Biotech/CPA, CFM, Math/CPA (all years) – 1 percent
• Graduate programs except research programs – 8.5 percent
• Graduate research programs (Master and PhD) - 3 percent
• Specifically identified Master and Diploma programs - 3 percent to 15 percent

International undergraduate and master’s tuition fees include an amount to offset the MASED-imposed $750 per student International Recovery fee, and the $75 per student Grant-in-lieu of Taxes reduction.

The recommended international tuition increase for the majority of undergraduate programs is 8.5 percent for Year 1 students, and a net increase of 5 percent for years 2 through 4. “Due to tuition assessment system limitations, the tuition increase in years 2 to 4 will be calculated as 8.5% on the fee assessment, however each undergraduate student in years 2 to 4 will automatically receive an award to reduce the net tuition to 5%,” says the Vice-President, Administration & Finance’s background material on the fee increases.

In addition, governors voted on the 2017-2018 residence fees, effective in the Fall 2017 term.

Fees in the Student Villages, UW Place, Columbia Lake Village and the Minota Hagey residences will increase by 2.5 per cent, and the family residences in Columbia Lake Village will see an increase of 1.5 per cent.

Governors also voted to approve a selection of incidental fee changes, including a 4.9 percent increase in the undergraduate Co-op Fee assessed to students in co-op programs from $676 a term to $709 a term effective in the spring 2017 term. The graduate Co-op fee will be similarly increased.

The Governors also voted to discontinue the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group (WPIRG) fee, effective May 1, 2017, in the wake of the undergraduate student referendum in the fall 2016 term where students voted to remove the fee.

Field House coming to the north campus

The Board of Governors have approved the design and construction of a $15,000,000 Field House facility to be located north of Warrior Field.

“Athletics & Recreation Services provides a diverse recreational program to over 30,000 students, and its facilities are utilized from 7:00 a.m. to 12:30 a.m., seven days per week,” says the background material from the University’s Buildings & Properties committee. “The current unmet student demand for recreation is generally related to the lack of availability of multi-functional indoor recreational space.

The construction of the proposed Field House on the north campus will provide an additional 75,000 square feet of indoor space which can be utilized year round.”

The main features of the Field House will include an indoor playing field, which can be subdivided into distinct activity areas, supporting change rooms, and potentially a running track.

The location of the facility was determined through a recreational facilities master plan developed in 2016. An interim pedestrian connection will be provided between Columbia Icefield and the new Field House until such time that the in-fill component is built.

Construction will commence in 2017 and be completed in the fall of 2018, and it is proposed that the project be funded using operating funds and potentially donations over a period of less than 10 years.

The facility will be designed by WalterFedy.

Discover more about your Library and collect a set of postcards along the way

Every Wednesday in February and March, starting February 15, a different postcard will be available at service areas throughout our Library system. Follow the clues on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to figure out where this week’s postcards are hiding. Each postcard contains a photo and fun fact about the location-collect them all!

There is still time to track down last week’s postcard to ensure you get a full set. The Postcard Project is the term project of one of our Library Ambassadors,Taylor Hodson.

New Brubacher House hosts eager for Urban Homestead

by Aurrey Drake

Conrad Grebel University College is pleased to welcome Laura (‘13 BES) and Joshua Enns (‘12 BMATH) as the newest hosts of Brubacher House, effective February 1, 2017. Once home to Magdalena and John E. Brubacher and their fourteen children, Brubacher House now operates as a museum on the University of Waterloo campus and serves to educate and interpret the Pennsylvania German Mennonite way of life to visitors. As hosts, Laura and Joshua will serve as guides and caretakers of this important piece of history.

“We were excited when we saw the job posting because we had been searching for a kind of ‘urban homestead’ where we could live closer to the land and build community around the arts, social and environmental justice, and our Mennonite heritage” the pair explained. And Brubacher House is just that. The stone farmhouse, built in typical Pennsylvania German style, is a nod to the agrarian roots of Waterloo Region, while OpenText and other neighbouring buildings in the David Johnston Research + Technology Park are representative of the area’s innovative present and future.

Joshua and Laura are quite at home when it comes to living in a piece of history. As recent volunteers with the Iona Community in Scotland, they have both lived and worked in heritage sites – Laura, as a music assistant in an abbey, and Joshua as staff at an off-grid activity centre in an old fishing bothy. Inspired by groups like the Iona Community that are bringing new life to historic buildings, Laura and Joshua are eager to take on this new challenge.

“As a community musician, Laura enjoys facilitating engaging arts activities. She is bursting with ideas and will be fantastic at creating new and relevant reasons for people to engage with the Brubacher House and its history,” Joshua offered.

Laura added, “Joshua is great at finding creative ways of engaging with people, whether through storytelling, asking thought-provoking questions, or facilitating experiential learning. He will find interesting ways of connecting with museum visitors, and creating conversation around the Mennonite story.”

The transition marks an end to Jacquie and Karl Reimer’s four years as hosts of Brubacher House. The Reimers will remember many things fondly, including the huge windows with their deep sills, the joy of meeting new people, and the fun that comes with ringing the dinner bell (perhaps too much fun, Jacquie admits).

While reflecting on the experience, Jacquie remarked, “Living at Brubacher House is an experience like nothing else we will have in our lives. From the strangeness and amazingness of being the storytellers of such a wonderful family's history, to living in a beautiful space that is in the middle of a city though it feels like its own little world. [Joshua and Laura] have so much to look forward to! “

Brubacher House is located on the north campus of University of Waterloo. Visitors are welcome May 1 to October 31 on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday from 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., and Friday 12:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., or other times throughout the year by appointment.

From fashion to fungus, this co-op student strives for an eco-friendly world

By Naz Kittani

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what makes Michelle Sin so remarkable. The third-year Environment and Business co-op student already has quite the résumé.

Before she even started at the University of Waterloo, she was making headlines with her fashion line made entirely from waste and recycled materials (a single dress requires up to 30-hours of work for one-time use). Her work in the field of “trashion” caught the attention of CD Sonter Ltd., an award-winning environmental consulting firm in Toronto. They  asked Sin to create a dress for their firm and were so thrilled with the results that they hired her for her first co-op work term.

Sin’s second co-op work term took her in a different direction. Seeking a more business-focused experience, she landed a job in China as a communications associate for HandsOn Shanghai, an organization that promotes volunteerism and action in community development.

With two co-op work terms under her belt, Sin was inspired to combine her eco-friendly creative spirit and newfound business knowledge. In 2015, she launched Moguhaus Inc., a startup that researches and designs sustainable biomaterials made from agricultural waste and mycelium (a type of fungus). In July 2016, she brought her start-up idea to Velocity where she received the Velocity $5,000 startup award.

Today Sin and her team at Moguhaus are focusing on the creation of MycoCup, a compostable cup that resembles Styrofoam but is made entirely from waste and mycellium. She says that it will prevent 75 million trees from being sent to landfill in the form of paper cups that are so popular in commercial coffee chains.

Although her passion for the environment has always been a priority for Sin, she credits co-op for much of her success in this field. “Without co-op I wouldn’t be where I am right now. I wouldn’t know so much more about myself and what I want to do.”

Wednesday's notes

Employers on campus next week hosting employer information sessions include TD Bank - Treasury & Balance Sheet Management, Health Canada, StackAdapt, Drop-in, Q + A ft. Bosch Rexroth, Deloitte LLP,and Service Canada; Government of Canada. Visit the employer information sessions calendar for more details.