As an international student at York, I have grown familiar with the response I get every time I ask why tuition fees are so high for us: “Well, the reason you have to pay more tuition than us is because you guys don’t have to pay taxes.” Both an unfair and wrong answer.
Since I came to York, I have had to pay all the taxes on goods, food, and basically everything else. Yes, I am aware of the fact that I can file for a tax refund, but I won’t get a refund on the goods I have purchased. I won’t even get one for my tuition fee, because in order for any international student to get a refund he/she must be employed in Canada with a good salary.
In 1976, the federal government suggested that by introducing supplemental tuition fees, universities could generate additional revenue. In addition, over the next few years the provincial governments began cutting or eliminating grants that had previously been provided to universities for funding international students. Since then, tuition fees in Canada have skyrocketed for international students. On average, tuition fees for a foreign undergraduate student in 2010/2011 were $16,768, excluding the living expenses, and it will probably increase in the future.
If that’s not enough to make you gasp, international students must pay $200 for health and dental cover. As York students, we must pay an additional $15 at the York Lanes Appletree Medical Centre every time we go there for a check up. However, it’s better to just go to a clinic 20 minutes away and throw the purple UHIP card in the bin.
People should realize that not all international students are born with silver spoons in their mouths. My parents have to work as hard as any other Canadian parents and where I come from, my country does not provide its citizens with a health plan, free schools, or other government-funded benefits. Hell, we don’t even have any such thing as national child benefits.
I wish the Drop Fees campaign included international students too, but sadly we have very little political influence in Canada even though we are a very valuable source of revenue. I feel like a fat cash cow and York is constantly taking advantage of the hard-earned money my parents make.
I just hope the government and universities realize that international students have just as much right to an affordable education as the rest of the Canadian student population. The way things are going I don’t think anyone will want to attend university in Canada, much less York, because every time I see a new LCD TV on campus I know where my dad’s money went.
Ayesha Khan
Advertising Designer
