Fees plebiscite

By Katie Hobday

Students will have the opportunity to vote on lowering their Students’ Union fees. Following the December approval of a three-year strategic plan, the SU is holding a plebiscite in the upcoming election to reduce the amount of money they charge students. A yes vote could see students saving $0.50 per semester in fees next year.


“A fee reduction was something I campaigned on last year.” said SU VP Operations and Finance Greg Clayton. “As [the SU] becomes more profitable, we should rely less on students.”


The SU decided on $0.50 as the amount of the reduction, which they see as sustainable. “We could have done something larger, but that might not be as beneficial,” said Clayton. “There are still a lot of things that we could do with this money, but we want to reduce it to something we won’t have to increase by again next year.”


While $0.50 doesn’t seem like much, every penny counts.


“If we could reduce fees by a little bit every year, there could come a time when students won’t pay any fees,” said Clayton, adding students need not worry about losing any of the SU’s services they have come to know and love over the years either. “There will be more services next year, and they will be even better.”