Last night we told you about the hike in fees that will more than double the cost of registration for new and returning students at the University of Belize. As we reported when students register next month they'll have to pay $410 compared to the $170 they paid last year. Both Student Government President Rollin Powery and student activist Moses Sulph say the hikes will force some students to abandon their quest for higher education. That is, of course, the students' side and tonight we have the school's side.
This evening we met with UB's President Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis. She told us that she understands where the students are coming from and agrees with them. The only problem says Dr. Lewis is that UB simply doesn't have a choice, they need the money.
Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis, UB President
"I promise you I wouldn't like it and I probably would be grumbling, and I don't know if I'd make as much noise as some of the students do but I wouldn't like it. I understand that and it is not we want to increase fees to students and it is not that we don't understand it is a hardship for many of them to improve the fees. It is just that in order for us to give them the services that we think they deserve, it becomes necessary for us to do that. Now we will try and make it as painless as we possibly can and we will ensure that they could get good services.
The cost for the university to give the students as adequate as possible the kind of conditions they need to work in, gets duplicated several times. We have three campuses in Belize City. We have one in Belmopan. We have one in Central Farm and we have one in Toledo."
Keith Swift,
So that is where the $100 for campus development is going.
Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis,
"Right. It is to make sure that all the students at all the campus sites we have, have adequate services."
Keith Swift,
How about the price for computer lab. It has gone from $75 to $165.
Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis,
"Again we have the same issues with computer fees and in fact our computer fee was less than at any of the other junior colleges and that is one of the things our students, perhaps some of them, may not recognize. The fees paid at UB by students there, when you compare it with other junior colleges, is a lot less."
Keith Swift,
By our math, the registration cost has more than doubled from $170 to $410.
Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis,
"Actually it wasn't $170, it was $230. That is where the students were and the increase basically is at $410 for general fees. That is what it will be for the general fees that students are required to pay."
Keith Swift,
It is still an increase. What about the students who simply cannot afford it?
Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis,
"That is one of the unfortunate things about increases wherever you had them. Whether it's in education or anywhere else, if it is medical service, if it is anywhere else. What we are trying to do at the university is to provide the students with a sort of payment plan that they can use to pay over a period of time, rather than requesting that at upfront they pay the increase.
What we are having them do this year is to, at the beginning of the year, pay what they normally would have paid before the increase and then work out with a plan whereby they can over the course of the year, in small increments, try and find the money to finish paying off the other costs."
Registration at UB begins on August 11th. The University gets an annual suubvention of $7.5 million from government. The majority of that goes to salaries. The university hopes to raise 590 thousand dollars from registration fees. UB accepted one thousand and fifty students for the new school year. We highlight that the university is still accepting applications from students with grade point average of 3.0 or above.
