VIUSU Presents to BC Select Standing Committee on Finance: Funding, Fairness, and the Future of Students
On June 12, 2025, VIUSU’s Director of External Relations, Brandi Klee, presented to the BC Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services in Courtenay. Speaking on behalf of over 10,000 VIU students, Brandi delivered a five-minute presentation calling on the province to reinvest in public post-secondary education and close loopholes that allow unfair cost increases for students.
Who Was at the Table?
The committee included MLAs from across British Columbia:
Steve Morissette (BC Green – Powell River–Sunshine Coast)
Bryan Tepper (Conservative – Surrey South)
Jennifer Blatherwick (BC NDP – Vancouver–Fairview)
Paul Choi (Chair) (BC NDP – Burnaby South)
Elenore Sturko (BC United – Surrey South)
Sunita Dhir (BC NDP – Vancouver–Kensington)
Claire Rattee (Conservative – Skeena)
What We Said
Brandi’s remarks focused on the impact of chronic underfunding on VIU students and campuses, especially in rural and mid-sized communities. VIU is currently facing an accumulated $40 million institutional deficit. In the past year alone, the university has:
Cancelled or suspended over 20 programs, including its flagship music department, the dental assistant program, and the Masters in Community Planning
Shelved major infrastructure projects, including a new campus daycare
Reduced staffing and student services, including the elimination of VIU’s Outdoor Recreation program.
These issues, Brandi argued, are symptoms of a deeper problem: a funding system that has eroded over decades. In 2000, provincial funding covered 68% of institutional operating costs. Today, it’s just 40%. The rest is made up largely by tuition, especially from international students - a source of revenue that’s increasingly unstable and inequitable.
Three Key Budget Recommendations from VIUSU
Restore Public Funding to 75% of Operating Budgets
Complete and Implement the Funding Formula Review
Strengthen the Tuition Limit Policy and Close Fee Loopholes
The One Question from the Committee
The committee asked: “Do you have anything that is a smaller ask specific to your university?”
Brandi reiterated the importance of tightening enforcement around the Tuition Limit Policy. She emphasized that students need protection from fee increases disguised as structural changes—and that consistent oversight is necessary to ensure the policy works as intended.
She shared that In 2024, VIU changed its Student Activity and Student Services fees from a per-credit model to a flat monthly rate. While this reduced fees for some students, it caused a 433.9% increase for students in the English as a Second Language (ESL) program.
The Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills reviewed the changes and found VIU had misapplied the Tuition Limit Policy, which limits fee increases to 2% annually and does not allow revisions to existing fees without a specific process. As a result, VIU was granted a one-time exemption for the realignment—with the exception of the ESL fee, which had to be rolled back to 2023/24 levels and increased only within the 2% limit.
The Ministry warned that future non-compliance would require full resets of tuition and fees to policy-aligned levels.
Why It Matters
From library access to course availability, underfunding directly affects students’ ability to succeed. Brandi closed with a call for the province to back up its priorities—affordability, workforce development, and equitable access—with real investment.
“There’s no path to a strong, sustainable economy without investing in the people who will power it.”