News

 

september 18, 2002

MBA Students Sue UBC After 300
Percent Tuition Hike

School notified students of increase via e-mail

Kevin Groves
British Columbia Bureau

VANCOUVER (CUP)—Ten former MBA
students are suing the University of British
Columbia for negligence and breach of con-
tract after the university quadrupled their
tuition fees last March.

The former students, who were set to begin
the MBA program this fall, have instituted
three separate lawsuits in the Supreme Court
of BC. Cameron Ward, their lawyer, said the
hearings would likely take place in November
or December.

The statements of claim for a group of
eight students suing the school obtained by
Canadian University Press said the university
agreed to a fee of $7,000 for a 15-month
MBA program before March, when tuition
for an MBA was raised to $28,000.

The former MBA students said the tuition
increase was “unfair, unreasonable and
unconscionable,” and the university failed to
consult them.

But according to UBC’s lawyer Hubert Lai,
the university acted in a proper and legal
manner.

Lai admits that before March some incom-
ing MBA students were sent e-mail admis-
sion letters with the $7,000 tuition figure but
said they all contained a disclaimer stating
that the university reserves the right to
change fees without notice.

“All of these students were sent an email
notification of the new tuition fee the day
after it was set for the upcoming year by the
UBC Board of Governors,” Lai said.

He added the Faculty of Commerce also
offered a full refund of the deposit paid by
incoming MBA students who decided not to
attend the school because of the tuition
increase and arranged a special loan program
for MBA students who would attend.

But Brian de Alwis, president of the gradu-
ate student’s society believes the Faculty of
Commerce's actions were not good enough
because e-mail is not a reliable medium to
convey important messages.

De Alwis said former MBA student Kevin
Kearns, who is also suing the university, never
received his e-mail notification of the tuition
increase and only found out about it in

© page 6

August while attending the MBA’s preparato-
ry classes.

“It might have been accidentally zapped
with the Internet spam,” said de Alwis, who
is a PhD candidate in Computer Science.
“It's all well and good for [the Faculty of
Commerce] to say they sent an e-mail but if
youre going to quadruple tuition fees they
should have at least sent a letter.”

But Lai said the Faculty of Commerce was
very careful to personally follow up on any
bounced e-mail.

Since Kearns’ account did not bounce the
e-mail notice the faculty believed he had
received it, said Lai.

He added that Kearns had provided the e-
mail address himself and had successfully
communicated with it both before and after
the March notification was sent out.

“As soon as we learned of Mr. Kearns’
unique situation, we discussed the matter
with his lawyer and reached an accommoda-
tion to deal with the lateness of his learning
of the new MBA tuition fee,” said Lai, who
would not comment on what the accommo-
dation was without Kearns’ consent.

De Alwis also wonders if a 300 per cent
increase was necessary. He said Dean of
Commerce Daniel Muzyka had assured the
graduate student society and the Board of
Governors that his faculty had been carrying
many costs associated with the program.

“But these costs were never detailed for us,”
de Alwis said. “They must have been extraor-
dinary to have required such a large increase.”

Lisa Miguez, a spokeswoman for the
Faculty of Commerce said the previous
tuition had not covered the costs of the MBA
program. She would not comment on what
those costs were.

“But at $7,000 [tuition for an MBA] didn’t
even cover a quarter of the program's costs,”
she said.

Even with the increase the new tuition fee
for the UBC MBA program remains signifi-
cantly lower than peer institutions. At the
University of Toronto, an MBA costs
$48,175.

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