Two weeks ago, we first told you about the University of Belize's plan to increase the registration fees for students at the start of the new school year in August. The school said the fees were necessary and students said they were excessive. The new fee schedule included a $165 computer fee, a campus development fee of $100, and a late registration fee of $200. When you add it all up, students who paid $170 last year to register would have to pay $410 this year. Today, less than two weeks before registration, the students held a press conference where they made it clear that they cannot and will not pay the increase in fees. Keith Swift has the story.
Shantel Magdaleno, Primary Education Major
"It is like what the poem said, 'life haad out yah.'"
'Life haad out yah,' that is the reason why Shantel Magdaleno and these other University of Belize students say they are out rightly rejecting the board's decision to double registration fees for the new school year. These students from campuses around the country say they simply do not have the extra money to pay UB.
Shantel Magdaleno,
"The rise in the fees is really going to touch my pocket. My mother
is a retired public officer and she is sending me to school with no assistance. My fees will raise from $179 to $437. That is more than a 100% increase. So if I am feeling it, what about those people who can't afford to go to school and who can't afford the fees. What is going to happen? Are they just going to be out of school? What are they going to do?"
Terrence Chimilio, Social Work Major
"The rise in cost will affect most of the students finances and it is very difficult already meeting some of the finances and now to go this increase in price, it is very difficult for us and it will affect many of us who are students."
Keith Swift,
How will it affect you? Will you be able to return to school?
Terrence Chimilio,
"I am not even sure."
Natalie Novelo, English Major
"I should be done by December but there are a lot of people coming behind me, maybe my little sister in two years, cousins and other families. The problem is that we cannot afford this. If we could have afforded this in the first place, we would have been in another university elsewhere, other places in Mexico, Cuba, anywhere else. But they came with this and they dropped it like a bombshell. This is more than a 100% increase. We were paying like $142 on fees and now it is going up to $400. Come on, that is a big increase. That is more than 100%."
Kimberly Broaster is a third year nursing student. If the increases are implemented, Kim says she might have to sit out an entire school year. She told us why.
Kim Broaster, Nursing Major
"If the school fees are increased I will not be able to return to school
August and if I don't return to school August then that means I will not be able to go back to next year August because the courses that I am taking right now are prerequisites for one another.
I cannot afford the raising of the school fees. I used to pay $175 and they are telling me I will have to pay $747. That is ridiculous. So I can't pay it and that is the reason why I am here today. I am willing to do whatever is necessary for me not to pay that money."
And whatever it takes is what Moses Sulph is prepared to do. The firebrand former UB Student Government President is leading the charge against the increase in fees.
Moses Sulph, Student Activist
"The students have rejected it. We have no other choice because we can't afford it."
Sulph today sat at the head table alongside current Student Government President Rollin Powery. Powery has already gotten an assurance from Education Minister Francis Fonseca that the issue of fees will be revisited. But to Sulph that is just talk. If and until there is something on paper, Sulph says they will proceed with planned protests and a boycott.
Moses Sulph,
"If we don't get anything in writing that the increase will be back to where it was we are going to having our protest against the increase leading up to registration. If there is no change, we will be boycotting it, registration."
Keith Swift,
Why do this over an increase in fees?
Moses Sulph,
"Because it is simple: we cannot afford it. With the economy right now, most of us don't have jobs, we cannot get any jobs. For those who parents are paying, they are scraping this money up right now. Me basically, if I am supposed to go back in August, I will have to drop a couple subjects. If I have to pay this increase in fees, I will have to pay more so I will have to drop some subjects and that is just the reality of it. There is no money. We don't have the money as students to pay for it.
I do understand that we do need additional finance in order for the school to continue functioning. However, I do not believe that we the students are supposed to come up with this additional amount of money that is necessary in order to do so when there is money being mismanaged all over the place. So there should be more management on the part of the government and whosever so that we don't have to bear this burden that we cannot afford."
Keith Swift,
How far are you guys willing to take this?
Moses Sulph,
"We are willing to take it until we are successful. That is the length we are willing to go, until we are successful."
And that success will likely be judged by what these students will pay on registration day. Will it be an average of $170 or will it be more like $410.
Orientation for new students begins on Monday and registration follows from the 7th to the 11th of August. Classes commence on the 14th. In an attempt to avert any unrest, it has been suggested that government will increase their subvention to the school to eliminate the need for a hike in fees. UB hopes to collect an extra half a million dollars from the fee increase.
Related Story
. The Higher Cost of Higher Education at UB
