Fee Changes for Fall 2019 | Academic Newsletter | Seneca Polytechnic

by Sharon Kinasz, Registrar

in the June 2019 issue

On January 17, 2019, the Ford government announced some changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Plan (OSAP) and post-secondary tuition and ancillary fees.

The changes to OSAP include

• lowering the income threshold for OSAP eligibility
• increasing the loan portion as opposed to the non-repayable grant portion
• changing the definition of an independent student – students will only be determined to be independent (not subject to parental supports) once they have been out of high school for six years instead of the current four years
• increasing parental contribution rates
• eliminating the six-month interest-free repayment grace period – interest on student loans will start to accumulate immediately upon graduation

The government also announced that domestic tuition fees across all public post-secondary institutions would be reduced by 10 percent for the Fall 2019/20 academic year and remain frozen for the 2020/21 academic year. International fees were not included in this mandate, but the Board of Governors at Seneca has approved a recommended zero percent increase to international tuition fees for the 2019/20 academic year.

The final portion of the government announcement focused on the “Student Choice Initiative” policy, which will allow students to opt out of certain ancillary fees deemed to be non-essential. According to the document, students will be allowed to opt out of fees that are allocated towards clubs, student organizations, and programs that do not fall into the government’s criteria for essential fees.

Services considered ‘essential’ in the guidelines include athletics and recreation, career services, student buildings, health and counselling, academic support, student ID cards, student achievement and records, financial aid offices, and campus safety programs.

A detailed list of the mandatory and optional fees for Seneca students can be found on the Fees and Payment page of the Registrar’s website.

By mid-July, a new student account feature will be added to the online student centre to provide students with the ability to opt out of the optional fees that have been identified by the Seneca Fees Protocol Committee. Students will have up until Day 10 to opt out of the fees.

View the June 2019 issue of the Academic Newsletter.