TUITION fees for students at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, will be increased by 15 per cent for the upcoming academic year 2007-08.

Fees for students at the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados will go up by 3.8 per cent while those studying at the St Augustine campus in Trinidad will face no tuition increases.

According to deputy principal of the Mona Campus, Joseph Pereira, the decision to increase fees at Mona was approved at a university sub-committee meeting in April, attended by representatives from across the region, including members of the student population. He also noted that the decision was in keeping with the university council’s commitment to attaining a cost recovery ratio of 20 per cent of the total economic costs on all three campuses, while keeping annual increases at least on par with the inflation rate in Jamaica for students.

“Two years ago we did not have much of an increase because the MOU that the government had with the trade unions representing UWI workers had been enforced. So there were no salary increases then, as the unions had agreed on that. The MOU has now been lifted and that has impacted significantly on the wage bill of the campus,” Pereira told the Sunday Observer in an interview at the Mona Campus last Friday.

“So all of this goes back into the economic cost of running the campus and for this coming year, the cost will be much higher. Students pay 20 per cent of the economic cost of running the campus,” Pereira said, adding that there would be little or no increase in the other territories as “their budget situation is different from ours”.

The deputy principal also pointed out that the increase at Mona would be felt “across the board” by all faculties.

Under the new fee structure, new and second-year medical students (full-time) will pay $373, 805 while returning clinical students will pay $495,333. Returning pre-clinical students will be asked to pay $259, 993 (up from $226, 081). Law students will pay $166, 868 (up from $145, 103). Full-time students enrolled in Humanities and Education, Advanced Nursing and Physical Therapy, Pure and Applied Sciences and Social Sciences, will pay a flat tuition fee of $153,342 (up from $133, 341).

Pereira pointed out that hall fees for students will go up by 10 per cent while health insurance premiums (via Blue Cross of Jamaica) for 2007-08 will be increased by 68 per cent for students and 74 per cent for staff and retirees.

“We know that this increase will have adverse effects on some students so we have set aside some funds for grants for exceptionally needy students. We also encourage students to make use of the Students Loan Bureau (SLB), which was set up to assist them, to prevent any problems. That is what we recommend,” Pereira said, adding that fees can be paid per semester and are due by the end of the months of September and January.

“Those students with financial problems can put it in writing so that a plan can be worked out. That has been working so far,” he added, while highlighting the fact that deregistration and compulsory leave of absence would befall students who fail to report their difficulties or make any payments.

Meanwhile, efforts to contact President of the UWI Mona Guild of Students, Andrew Badaloo, were unsuccessful up to press time. Badaloo and other members of the guild executive are in Barbados attending a meeting of the UWI Inter-Campus Games Committee (ICGC).

But Amanda Richards, a third year literature student, said she believed such an increase would only put students under further financial strain.

“Why them have to increase it again? Every year is the same thing. I don’t know how I am going to afford it because my parents are already struggling, and I have another brother who goes to UWI,” she told the Sunday Observer, adding that she can’t wait to finish her degree programme.

Andrew McLean, 21, said an increase would cause additional stress on an already “tight family budget”.

“I hope my grades can help me to get a scholarship because this is ridiculous,” said McLean, a second-year medical student.

Both Alicia-Kaye Jones and Michelle Daniels, who are enrolled in Management Studies, said they hoped that with elections high on the national agenda, the government would step in to offer some assistance to students, or that the increase would be lowered before classes begin in September.

In the meantime, Pereira told the Sunday Observer that new security measures would be implemented on the Mona campus, especially in the wake of the recent murder of distinguished zoology lecturer, Dr Peter Vogel, a 60-year-old Swiss national whose body was found bound and gagged at his College Common residence recently.

“In relation to College Common, we’ve stepped up our security by increasing patrols at night. For the rest of the campus, our new camera surveillance system will be implemented soon. The cameras are not yet in the island, but we have already agreed on the specifications and locations for them,” Pereira told the Sunday Observer.

The new surveillance equipment, which includes the first 16 state-of-the-art cameras, will cost the university roughly J$4-6 million, which Pereira said will go towards paying for the cameras and maintaining and monitoring them.

“This is just the first phase of the programme. We plan to add to those and do upgrading work as time progresses,” the deputy principal said.