1. Policy

1.1.      In order to have full information in making decisions about changes to tuition and student fees, the University will engage in open consultations with students and their elected leadership.

1.2.     The administrative consultation process shall:

a.         Provide as much information as possible to students about the University's current and projected financial situation and proposed changes to tuition and student fees.

b.         Provide an opportunity for the elected student leadership to directly consult their members in a dedicated student budget consultation process in concert with the University administration and to submit responses to proposed changes to tuition and student fees.

c.         Be undertaken annually, regardless of whether multi-year fee changes have been announced in previous years.

d.        Be initiated as early as possible in the overall public budget consultation process.

1.3.      The President shall take the opinions and advice submitted from the students into consideration prior to making a recommendation regarding tuition and student fees to the Board of Governors for approval.

2. Definitions

“Tuition and student fees” are mandatory fees approved by the Board of Governors that students are required to pay in order to complete an academic program.  Fees collected on behalf of the undergraduate and graduate student societies are not included in this definition.

3. Procedures for Consultation with Student Societies

3.1.      Meetings with Student Societies

a.         The Vice-President, Finance and Administration (VPFA) shall set a schedule of dates for meeting with the Simon Fraser University undergraduate and graduate student societies for the fall semester of each budget year as soon as possible during the budgeting process. Further informal consultation may be requested, and shall not be unreasonably denied.

b.         Prior to the meeting, the Societies shall be provided with copies of budget consultation documents, a statement of any proposed fee changes and anticipated revenue increases, and a statement of revenue increases resulting from the prior year's aproved fee increases.

c.        Additional information requested by the Societies shall be provided as it becomes available and shall not be unreasonably refused.

d.        The Societies shall be given an opportunity to provide written responses to the proposed changes to tuition and student fees.

e.         The Societies' responses provided to the VPFA by the end of the first week of February shall be provided to the Board of Governors for their consideration prior to taking any decision related to fee changes.  The Societies may be given additional time to make a submission upon mutual agreement by the VPFA.

f.        The final draft budget document recommended by the University administration to the Board of Governors will be made available to the Societies in advance of the meeting at which the Board of Governors will be asked to approve the recommendations.

3.2.    Changes to Draft Budget     

a.         If the proposed tuition and student fees appearing in a draft budget to be presented to the Board of Governors differ from those presented in the fall consultations, the VPFA shall inform the Societies of the changes in advance of the Board of Governors budget approval meeting date(s).

b.         As much information as possible about the need for changes to tuition and student fees from the fall consultation process to the draft budget shall be provided to the Societies in time for written responses to those proposed changes.

c.         Societies' responses received by the VPFA by the end of the first week of February, or a mutually agreed date, will be sent to the Board of Governors prior to the administration's budget presentation to the Board.

3.3    Communication with the Student Body

a.         The University will directly inform all students of the date and location of the budget consultations to which they are invited, the tuition and student fee increases proposed during budget consultations, and of the role of student societies in budget consultations.

b.        The University will disseminate information about proposed tuition fee increases by establishing a website or similarly accessible media and through its normal mechanism of communication with students (newsletters, email lists, etc.).