Memorial University could get expensive

President Vianne Timmons says tuition could reach $7,000 if Greene Report’s recommendation is implemented

With the recent release of both the Greene Report and the public post-secondary education report, Memorial University president Vianne Timmons has a lot to digest, she said Friday.

She is supportive of technology training, continuing education, lifting the tuition freeze and more autonomy for the university, which both recommend, she said.

As for the Greene Report's recommendation of a 30 per cent cut to the university's operating grant, she will work with the government to see what is reasonable, “(but) in the context of being cut the last five years, every year being cut 10 per cent of our workforce, 30 per cent seems to be an impossible target,” she said.

The university's revenue options are few, but it does have a plan to look at tuition with a “real investment” in scholarships and bursaries for Newfoundland and Labrador students, Timmons said.

“If the tuition is lifted, we'll have to revisit that plan,” she said.

An initial analysis showed tuition could go to three times what it is now, to about $7,000, she said.

“That wasn't what we want or want to consider,” she said. “We would like to keep programs accessible. We still want to keep our tuition low, in terms of the Canadian context, and reasonable. We had not planned for that big of a jump.”

The report and review contain a lot of good recommendations, so she will not denounce either of them, Timmons said.

She said she sees them as recommendations to consider.

“There's going to be a lot of dialogue with the province, with the board of regents, so we don't take every recommendation we're given and implement it. I want to take time to reflect on the implications of the report for Memorial University.”

For students who are thinking of going to Memorial but are worried about the implications of the Greene Report, Memorial University is probably one of the best investments they can make, and she is committed to keeping tuition low, Timmons said.

“I came from a mining family that had no money. University was the only way for me to have the quality of life that I have, so I know the value of a university education,” she said.