Dear Matt,

Thank you very much for your comments about scholarship and tuition fees.

As you are probably aware University funding by governments in Ontario has been declining for over a decade. For the last six years Ontario has stood last (60 out of 60) of North American jurisdictions in changes in its operating grant per student. Government has not provided “inflationary adjustment.” Since our inflationary costs ranges from 4-5 per cent per year, universities are facing potential annual budget cuts of 4-5 percent. Since 80% of our operating costs are tied to salary and benefits, this means eliminating faculty and staff positions. The net result is the cancellation of courses, larger class sizes, reliance on part time instructors, and cancellation of journal subscriptions etc. leading to deterioration in the quality of education UW can offer.

By raising tuition fees we have been able to reduce the magnitude of these cuts at UW. We still needed to cut our budget by 3.5% in 2001-02 and by another 2% in 2002-03. Our choice is to raise tuition fees to protect the quality of program or let the quality of program decline.

I would like you to know that we are doing our best to provide student support in the form of scholarships and bursaries. The number of scholarships available varies from faculty to faculty. Faculties with deregulated programs have more scholarships than others. Clearly not all students in deregulated areas can receive scholarships, but many do. For example, engineering has a total of 520 scholarships/awards, while Computer Science has a total 291 scholarships/awards. The 02-03 budget includes $ 9.7 million in student aid, mostly bursaries aimed at all levels who have needs greater than Ontario Student Assistance Program will meet. We intend to do more and bringing in millions of dollars in new funding for student support is an important goal of Campaign Waterloo, which is about to begin.

Should you encounter financial hardship, I encourage you to meet with our Student Aid Office to see whether you are eligible for student aid.

I wish you all the best in your studies at the University of Waterloo.

Sincerely,

David Johnston,
President

Does anyone know how many students are currently enrolled in Computer Science?
4:08:23 PM   []

Note that's not a 'real recommendation' but it is a great song.
12:34:31 PM   []

Anyone have any details?
11:49:13 AM   []