By Kristen Oelschlagel
Loyalist students will now have to dig a little deeper into their pockets due to an increase in tuition fees.
The Loyalist College Board of Governors voted Thursday to increase tuition fees for the upcoming 2012 school year by 4.5 per cent.
In 2011, full time students who enrolled in their first year of a standard two-semester program paid $2,424 in tuition fees. Students who are enrolling in the 2012 school year will now have to pay approximately $2,533 for their first year in the same programs.
Loyalist College President Maureen Piercy said they are always concerned about student affordability but the increase is necessary.
“We do have increasing costs and we want to maintain offering high quality, excellent programs for students and great experiences,” Piercy said.
“We need those resources to be able to provide good quality experiences to our students.”
The college is also finding more money from student ancillary fees, which will be increasing by 7.2 per cent. The ancillary fee for the 2012 school year will be approximately $1,038 for full time students in a standard two-semester program. This is compared to the $969 ancillary fee for the 2011 school year.
Ancillary fees cover services such as the fitness centre, health insurance, 91X Radio, athletics and student government activities. The increase in fees will also allow the student government to participate in training seminars that will help them recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health programs and provide support for students.
Piercy said they understand costs are a challenge for students, but there are programs such as workstudy and bursaries to help them with financial issues.