Facts:
- The University of Alberta allocates 7.55% of international students' tuition toward international financial aid.
- Registrar Office (RO) distributes international financial aid as Scholarships (merit-based), bursaries (need-based), and repayable loans.
- The registrar's office has repeatedly allocated higher funds toward merit-based funding to support universities' international recruitment targets.
- Every year few current international students with visible needs have an unmet need due to the university not being able to support international students as international financial aid is majorly distributed to incoming students rather supporting current students.
Resolutions:
- The International Students’ Association (ISA) shall advocate for more need-based funding over merit-based funding.
- The International Students’ Association (ISA) shall annually write a letter to the Board of Governors in March bringing forward our concerns with international financial aid, questioning Registrar in COSA and GFC.
- The International Students’ Association (ISA) shall work with the Students’ Union to make this an advocacy priority for upcoming years.
- The International Students’ Association (ISA) shall evaluate the progress of its advocacy every August when the RO’s report on undergraduate financial aid is released.
Background:
In 2020/2021 [use UAlberta ccid and password to unlock], the RO gave $1,000 grant to all incoming students irrespective of need or merit. Thus distributing a total of $933,000 but at the same time, did not meet the unmet need of $655,768 of 76 current international students with proven need. Same year, $6,087,377 was given for scholarships (merit-based) and only $1,550,405 were given as bursaries (need-based) to current students. The bursaries in the previous year were almost half at $783,644 without the ISAs advocacy for more need-based bursaries.
In 2021, the International students’ Council, after a long debate, decided to advocate for need-based bursaries over merit-based bursaries, as our constituents are current students and not prospective students. Also, University is misusing international financial aid to meet its enrollment targets rather than support students who have visible needs.
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