Daily Bulletin, Thursday, March 24, 1994

WHAT A RELIEF:  The Ontario government announced the levels of tuition fees
and university grants for 1994-95 yesterday, and it's financial good news --
or at least not bad news.  

Transfer payments (grants) from the province are being "maintained" at the
levels already announced, education minister Dave Cooke said in the
Legislature.  That announced level does involve some cuts from the 1993-94
levels, which had already been taken into account in UW's tentative
budget-making, to the tune of around $3.5 million.  (Total grants to UW
then would be around $123 million next year.)

Tuition fees are going up by 10 per cent in the coming year, and another
10 per cent a year from now.  The "formula fee" rises from $2,020 to $2,228.
Actual tuition fees paid by students will also presumably go up by 10 per
cent.  That increase should mean new revenue to UW of about $4 million in
the year (to a total around $45 million).

MINISTER'S LETTER:  Here are a few sentences from a letter sent by Cooke
to university presidents and organizations in the post-secondary education
field:

     In making this decision, the Government has done everything it can
     to support our transfer partners, and we now look to you to ensure
     that enrolment is maintained, and strategically enhanced, to assist
     in the efforts towards provincial economic renewal.  I recognize
     that this will require further restructuring and streamlining of
     operations, to prepare to meet continued high demand for educational
     services, in a climate of constrained resources. . . .

     No increases in the compulsory, non-tuition related ancillary fees
     currently charged by each university will be permitted unless these
     increases are approved by students.  Each university will be required
     to set out a protocol, in consultation with local student representatives,
     which sets out the means by which students will be involved in
     decisions regarding compulsory ancillary fees. . . .

     While maximum weekly loan entitlements will not be increased for
     1994-95, the Ontario Student Assistance Program will recognize
     the full cost of tuition fees and of compulsory ancillary fees for
     the purpose of calculating student need.

     Tuition fees continue to play a necessary and critical role in the
     ability of this province to maintain high quality postsecondary
     education.  However, in allowing this additional revenue to be
     provided to universities through tuition fee increases, the Government
     will not permit its use to undermine the provisions of the Social
     Contract Act.

EFFECT AT WATERLOO: "It's amazing that that seems like good news, but it 
does," UW provost Jim Kalbfleisch told the senate long-range planning 
committee yesterday.  The committee meeting was starting just a few minutes 
after the minister's announcement, and Kalbfleisch took the opportunity to 
spread the word there, while stressing that there had been no time to read 
the fine print and calculate the details.  Said the provost: "The minister 
really went to bat for the universities, is the way it looks to us."

He pointed out that while the grant drop and tuition increase are roughly
equal, that doesn't mean UW's budget for 1994-95 will automatically balance,
because costs are going up.  For example, utility prices keep rising, the
costs of health benefits go up and up, there were emergency budget cuts
this year that really ought to be restored, and it hasn't been decided
whether the one-year cut in pension plan contributions (saving UW $1.7
million) should be continued for 1994-95.  Also, a faculty "progress
through the ranks" pay increase is due on May 1, and might or might not
be entirely covered by savings from professors' unpaid days.

YOU HAVE NO MESSAGES:  The voice mail system will be out of operation from
4:30 to 8:00 this evening for a software upgrade that was scheduled last
week but cancelled at the last minute.  Bell Canada will try again tonight.

NSERC VISIT:  The president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council, along with two other top NSERC officials, will visit Waterloo
tomorrow.  The president, Peter Morand, will give a 30-minute briefing
starting at 10:30 (Needles Hall room 3001), after which he'll answer
questions.  His two colleagues will be available in the afternoon to meet
with individual researchers about specific questions.  Appointments for
such meetings can be made at the end of the morning session, says a memo
from UW's dean of research, Arthur Carty.

BIOLOGY FAREWELLS: Half a dozen people are retiring from the biology 
department this year, and a general reception and dinner in their honour 
is scheduled for April 7 in South Campus Hall. Fran Filipitsch in the 
department's office is accepting not just RSVP's to the dinner, at $25 apiece, 
but contributions to a scholarship fund in honour of those retiring: Frank 
Brookfield, Bryce Kendrick, Paul Morrison, Erwin (Dutch) Dumbroff, 
Pat Dumbroff, and John Morton.  Filipitsch can be reached at ext. 2569.
     
FINALLY, happy birthday today to Bruce Torrie of the physics department.

Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
888-4567 ext. 3004      credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca