TORONTO – The union representing staff at Ontario’s 24 community
colleges is offering its full support to a class action lawsuit by two students.
The students have filed suit against the colleges for charging a
number of user fees that are not permitted by the Ontario government. The fees
include computer, library, and other so-called “ancillary” fees.
“We applaud the students who have come forward to expose these
illegal charges that all college students are forced to pay on top of their
already-too-high tuition fees,” said Warren (Smokey) Thomas, president of the
Ontario Public Service Employees Union. “We fully support this lawsuit.”
Colleges are using ancillary fees and high tuition fees to hide
their own poor management of the public dollars they receive, said Paddy Musson,
chair of the union’s College Academic Division.
“While it is true that Ontario ranks ninth out of 10 Canadian
provinces in per-student funding of its colleges, we have serious concerns about
the way the colleges spend the dollars they do have,” said Musson, who teaches
at Fanshawe College in London. “Over the last three years we have seen a gradual
increase in college funding, but this has not translated into improved
student-teacher ratios at all.
“That’s why we have been pushing the McGuinty government to
implement strong accountability measures to make sure public dollars go to
education quality.”
Musson said ancillary fees and high tuition fees have a negative
impact on the education students receive at college.
“These fees mean students are forced into the workplace to make
ends meet,” she said. “They have less time to study and they come to school
tired. Getting rid of illegal ancillary fees can only improve the quality of
education we provide and the quality of graduates our colleges produce.”
