Camosun College is changing its schedule for registration dates and fee deadlines. Until now, students could wait a couple weeks into the term before paying fees and dropping classes without financial penalty. This fall, the fee deadline is August 16, and students will only get a 100-percent fee refund if they drop a class by September 5, the day before classes start (last year, that deadline was September 16). If they drop a class by September 12, they’ll receive an 80-percent refund; after that, no refunds will be issued.
Camosun registrar Scott Harris says that the previous policy created unfair disadvantages to waitlisted students, and says that the new policy is designed to equalize student opportunity.
“We’re really trying to make it so that students are making purposeful decisions earlier as much as humanly possible,” he says. “Under the old deadlines, students would often hold multiple courses up until the last minute, dropping them at the point where no other student could pick up the space, and because it was a 100 percent refund all the way up until that add/drop deadline, there was no incentive to drop earlier and make room for others.”
Harris says that unfilled seats have a negative financial impact on the college and create unnecessary difficulty.
“Delivering a course has fixed costs, and the primary cost to the institution is instructional costs, so when those seats would go empty and be unable to be backfilled, it not only disadvantaged students, but of course it had a financial impact on the institution,” he says. “So with the tuition due date prior to the start of term, the college will have a better sense of a student’s commitment to attend, which gives us more time to manage waitlists and adjust the different course section offerings whenever possible.”
But second-year Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Mechanic Foundation apprentice Aaron Hunter says that this will negatively impact students.
“I’m definitely against it,” he says. “I think that it’s just another way to kind of end up spending more money on our education, and we’ve already spent too much. I think that education is overly expensive in the first place, on top of having private parking, and the expense of books on top of that, that I don’t think there’s such a thing as a financial burden for a university, considering I think the financial burden has already been placed on the students, and is something that should already be structured into our tax dollars in the first place.”
Harris says that it’s not the intent of Camosun to make life harder for students.
“We’ve tried to make it as gentle as possible and understand that there’s activity that needs to happen,” he says. “We’re not looking to be punitive on this, in fact, our 80% refund is the highest in the province, for [comparable institutions]. Some of the universities have a very different funding model than Camosun has, and that’s a structural issue within the province and the way that post-secondary is funded, so they don’t have the same sorts of constraints that we as a college have.”
Second-year Visual Arts student Jess Moore says that losing that buffer zone for fees and registration deadlines puts undue stress on students, especially those who have no previous experience with post-secondary.
“I started this year fresh out of high school, which I didn’t really feel so prepared for coming into post-secondary,” she says. “If I were only given one week to drop a class before not being able to drop it without incurring some sort of either penalty or not getting my money back, personally, it would be a lot more pressure in a way that I would not appreciate.”
Harris says that the new policies place greater accountability on students, as mature adults, to commit to classes, but first-year Accounting and Business Administration student Josh Campbell says his issue isn’t with committing to the course ahead of time, it’s about recognizing that instructors are an unpredictable variable.
“I think most of the time for me it wasn’t about being sure of what I was taking, it was about being sure of what I was taking with a teacher that met my learning requirements,” he says. “Every teacher is different, in my experience; people have different teaching styles that work better for you, and some that don’t. I feel if you’re having to put money up front blind without even knowing any of those factors, it would be hard for me to want to make a decision.”
Harris rebuts this by stating that students are absolutely welcome to drop a course if they attend and find that the instructor or teaching method isn’t right for them, but they must be aware that there are costs associated with every decision.
“I’m not aware of any institutions in Canada or even across North America that allow for a student to make an individual judgment about whether an instructor is right for them without some sort of commitment,” he says. “If a student adds a course [and is not satisfied], they still have that opportunity to switch, pending space being available. They’re not locked in, we just want the intentionality to be there as much as possible while still providing some mechanism for students to be able to switch based on their needs.”
Harris also points out that not all of the new changes are restrictive. While the previous policy limited the withdrawal-without-failure date to 66 percent of the course runtime, the new rule allows students to drop a course without a black mark on their transcript, all the way up until the last day of instruction.
Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) executive director Michel Turcotte says that the CCSS has expected these changes for some time. While Turcotte does not state whether the CCSS is for or against the changes, he says he understands the rationale for the decision.
“For the college to be financially efficient, it needs to have students in all its seats, or as many of its seats as possible, and the model that existed previously actually created some inefficiencies that way,” says Turcotte. “It is certainly less flexible for students who want to try out courses, there’s no question about that, but it does also allow students who want some of those limited courses to get into them more quickly.”
Not all students disagree with the changes. First-year Education Assistant and Community Support student Jasmine Vuong agrees that the old ways were unfair to waitlisted students. She adds that students who are worried that their instructor may not be right for them can check online reviews or consult an academic advisor.
“I think for me, I have specific learning needs, and I usually recommend to connect with an academic advisor who works in the program I’m in,” she says. “I would check in to see who they would recommend based on recommendations from other students, to avoid having to pay for a class that probably didn’t work for me, and then I waste my time. Have them give you a list of people, and you can decide from there; I think that would be beneficial for everybody to consider.”
Campbell also says he believes that these new changes are not in the best interest of the student, and that the college’s primary objective should be to put the student experience, and the quality of education, first.
Harris says that he believes these new rules are of greater benefit to students because they ensure equalized access and help the college be able to offer enough classes.
“I think this is prioritizing the student experience, because it’s about ensuring that students have the best chance possible to access those classes they need,” he says. “Now we’ll have much more predictability and be able to ensure that we’re offering an appropriate number of sections for courses, so that all students who need those courses can get into them. So I would say that while there may be some perception around negativity with these, I really do believe that it’s in the student’s favour, and it’s to the benefit of the students who are committed, and who are looking to complete their academic goals.”
Harris says that the new protocol is not a result of financial hardship inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These changes have been in the works for about four to five years, so this is something that we’ve been planning and developing for quite a long time,” he says. “One of the things that was the catalyst for talking about this was how far apart Camosun was in our dates and deadlines versus the rest of our college peers across the province. These changes are not a result of the current enrolment situation because of COVID and international enrolments; it really doesn’t have anything to do with that.”
Harris says that even though it may not look like it, Camosun’s policies are student-focused first and foremost.
“Everything that we’ve been doing is with a student lens, and with students at the centre, even though it may not feel like that at first glance,” he says. “These are significant changes for Camosun, but the ultimate goals are really around students and their ability to get what they need.”