TORONTO Laurentian University in Sudbury is in the midst of a financial crisis and has slashed programs, laid off staff and told some students they have to leave. Some families feel the school has failed students and that they should be compensated for lost scholarships, housing costs and other expenses. “I m in a four-year actuarial science program in the second year. They completely cut it and advised me to transfer schools said Peter Parsons, from New Lowell, east of Barrie. The school cut 39 per cent of its programs and told students like Parsons he had to leave. The announcement came as a shock to the Parsons family as Peter’s mother Tracy said her son lost scholarships and had already signed leases for housing for the year ahead.
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Former members of the Laurentian board of governors say a series of unpredictable events created a “perfect storm” that drove the university deeper into debt.
In a letter sent to Shelley Tapp, deputy minister of colleges and universities, the members point to the 2017 withdrawal of Saudi students over a foreign policy dispute as the first unforeseen setback.
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Each of these 137 students, they note, paid up to $36,000 in tuition.
Two years later, the province cut domestic tuition, freezing it in 2020.
“Instead of domestic tuition going up by, say, six per cent over the last two years as would normally occur, it went down by 10 per cent,” the letter states. “That’s a gap of 16 per cent in only two years.”
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Former members of the Laurentian board of governors say a series of unpredictable events created a “perfect storm” that drove the university deeper into debt.
In a letter sent to Shelley Tapp, deputy minister of colleges and universities, the members point to the 2017 withdrawal of Saudi students over a foreign policy dispute as the first unforeseen setback.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Try refreshing your browser.
Each of these 137 students, they note, paid up to $36,000 in tuition.
Two years later, the province cut domestic tuition, freezing it in 2020.
“Instead of domestic tuition going up by, say, six per cent over the last two years as would normally occur, it went down by 10 per cent,” the letter states. “That’s a gap of 16 per cent in only two years.”
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Council received a letter from Mario McLean, a Laurentian University Student for support during its restructuring process.
“The time to act is now,” stated the correspondence. “I am asking that the Town of Cochrane releases a statement in support of Laurentian and/or sends a letter to Queens Park. These cuts will have repercussions on your municipality because students will have to travel further to get the post-secondary education they are looking for and it will contribute to the rural exodus of our northern Ontario youth. The midwifery program, one of three and only bilingual program in Canada has been cut, along with 68 other programs, and this will affect the public health of our northern communities as midwives are often the only option in these rural and underserved communities.
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The provincial government says it wants to make the Northern Ontario School of Medicine a stand-alone university, something that Lakehead University in Thunder Bay opposes.
Debt-laden and insolvent Laurentian University in Sudbury – which shares the medical school with Lakehead – has not commented publicly on the proposal, even when asked to do so by The Sudbury Star.
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On April 15, the province announced that in the wake of Laurentian’s financial troubles, it would act to make the Northern Ontario School of Medicine independent of either university.