Emily Carr University students protest proposed tuition hike

Students at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design staged a class walkout and rally Thursday.

The demonstration was in protest of a proposed 30 per cent increase in tuition for international students.

“Their children have already paid the price to come here to build a better life, and improve the entire family,” one protestor said.

According to the Emily Carr Students’ Union (ECSU), the increase would cost nearly $5,000 for international students, and bring in an extra $1.8 million in revenue for the school.

“We are calling on the B.C. government to intervene immediately to pause this cash grab, and invest in Emily Carr University,” Kashish Hukku Jani with the ECSU said in a news release.

Protestors at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver called for the end to a proposed tuition hike for international students. (Image Credit: CityNews)

“We need to stop financing University deficits from our most marginalized members. Enough is enough,” Jani added.

The ECSU says the walkout “builds on escalating actions that students have been holding,” since first finding out about the tuition hike.

The group says it has also launched a letter writing campaign to local MLA’s, and more than 200 students held a sit-in at the school’s last Board of Governors meeting.

Students at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver staged a walkout and a rally Thursday.
(Image Credit: CityNews)

“International students already pay more than four times more than domestic students, and like many other British Columbians, have been struggling during the pandemic and in the face of skyrocketing costs of living in Metro Vancouver,” ECSU explained.

In a video the group posted on social media, it says, “We shouldn’t shoulder the weight of the government’s lack of funding.”

The group says a final decision on the hike is expected on Thursday.