Drop Fees
Club Contest - win $250!
Your Club can help us build the largest student Drop Fees Day of Action in history! We welcome each club to have its own contigent at ther rally -- and the club with the largest presence will receive up to $250 from U.T.S.U. to be used for prizes or food at your next major event this term!
For more information, or schedule a representative from U.T.S.U. to speak at your next meeting to talk about the Drop Fees Day of Action, please email Shaun Shepherd at vpexternal@utsu.ca.
UofT Faculty Association endorsement
720 Spadina Spadina Avenue, Suite 419
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2T9
January 27, 2012
Danielle Sandhu, President
University of Toronto Students’ Union
Local 98 of the Canadian Federation of Students
12 Hart House Circle
Toronto, ON M5S 3J9
Dear Danielle:
UTFA wants to thank you for providing our Council with information regarding the National Student Day of Action. It is seldom that students, faculty, staff and the administration unanimously agree on an issue but providing appropriate funding for post-secondary education is something we all agree on. As such, UTFA is proud to support the activities associated with the National Student Day of Action on February 1st.
I am glad to formally inform you that UTFA Council has unanimously passed the following motion:
UTFA strongly supports the National Student Day of Action to be held on February 1st 2012 and recommends to all of its members to:
- Alleviate student attendance and evaluation requirements on that day,
- Facilitate access to missed class materials and contents, and
- Provide reasonable accommodations for missed assignments.
We recognize many students will attend the manifestation and hope all of our members will support students for such an important and unique event.
Wishing you the best success on the National Student Day of Action.
Sincerely,
[original signed by]
George Luste
UTFA President
Click "Download" below to view/download the original letter.
Campaign Update & Government Grant
AM I ELIGIBLE? To find out whether or not you are eligible, visit:
http://cfsontario.ca/downloads/CFS-Tuition%20Grant%20Briefing%20Note.pdf
HOW CAN I ACCESS THE GRANT? If you are eligible, here are the steps you can take to access the grant:
https://osap.gov.on.ca/OSAPPortal/en/PostsecondaryEducation/Tuition/index.htm
We need to do more to ensure that every student has access to this $1600 grant. We also need to continue to call on the government to increase funding for colleges and universities. When students take to the streets, we show the government that we want change. Let’s continue our fight to make education accessible to ALL students.
Join the campaign to Drop Fees and help organize for the February 1st National Day of Action!
All Out Feb 1st! | À la Rue 1er Fév!
Academic Accommodation for UofT students!
Drop Fees
Join the campaign to Drop Fees and help organize for the February 1st National Day of Action!
On February 1, 2012, students at the University of Toronto will be joining over 600,000 members of the Canadian Federation of Students from across the country in a National Day of Action. Our members will be taking to the streets to defend affordable public education in Canada, calling for a post-secondary education system that is of high quality, affordable and accessible to all.
As a nation, we are one of the only countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) lacking a national vision for post-secondary education. This has led to incredible discrepancies in the quality of education and funding for institutions in different provinces. The lack of federal oversight has allowed provincial governments to reduce per-capita funding to the detriment of our public education system. We need a vision for a national strategy for post-secondary education.
On February 1, students and members of the community will take this message to Queen’s Park, calling on the provincial government to increase per-student funding to above the national average. They will also be demanding that the government keep its promise of a 30% tuition fee subsidy for all students in the province.
In the last provincial election, our government was elected on a promise to reduce tuition fees for all students in the form of an up-front grant. For eligible students in university, this grant amounts to $1600. This is an incredible victory for students who have been calling on the government to lower tuition fees.
However, many of our students are being excluded from receiving this grant. Students who are part-time, international, whose family income is over $160,000 annually, who are considered independent of their parents, as well as students in second-entry professional programs and graduate studies will not receive this grant.
Students have been working hard to lobby our government and collect thousands of petition signatures to make sure that all students have access to this grant. As a result, the government has recently announced that students in first-entry professional programs (such as engineering, physical health and education, and music) will be eligible to receive the grant!
Still, we need to do more to ensure that every student has access. We need to continue to call on the government to increase funding for colleges and universities. When students sign petitions and take to the streets, we show the government that we want change. Now more than ever, it is important for us to come together in defense of public education. By working together, we can win!