Trent University students are expressing their displeasure over a rise in tuition fees for post-secondary students starting next September.

The Trent Central Student Association [TCSA] has lobbied the Province for reduced or frozen tuition fees throughout a consultation process initiated by Premier Dalton McGuinty last summer.

On Wednesday, Premier McGuinty announced tuition will increase in the next academic year, putting an end to a two-year freeze.

Premier McGuinty says the Province has no choice but to raise tuition fees because Ontario does not have revenue from oil and gas filling its coffers like Alberta and Newfoundland.

The amount of the increase will be announced later this month.

"At Trent, we collected over 700 postcards and sent hundreds of faxes urging the premier and our local MPP (Jeff Leal) to reduce or continue the tuition fee freeze for the next academic year," says Emily Penny, vice-president, external affairs, of the TCSA.

"The premier needs to know he has made an announcement that is very unpopular amongst students and many members of the community."

According to the TCSA, tuition fees in Ontario are among the highest in the country and students are graduating with an average debt load of $25,000.

Students at Trent University in Peterborough voted overwhelmingly in favour of reducing tuition fees in September 2006. The voting took place November 21 to 24.

“This referendum demonstrates the depth of support for adequate government funding that will allow tuition fees to be reduced,” said Emily Penny, Vice-President External Affairs for the Trent Central Student Association.

Last year, students at Trent, along with members of the Peterborough community, participated in the Rae Review consultation on post-secondary education, making their views on tuition fees clear at both the consultation and at the public town hall meeting. “Based on the fact that the Rae Review recommended that tuition fees be increased and fully de-regulated, it appears that student input was wholly ignored through the review process,” said Penny. “The results of the plebiscite clearly demonstrate that students oppose further tuition fee increases and want action from the government to reduce tuition fees.”

In July, 2005, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities launched a
second round of consultations on tuition fees. “Premier Dalton McGuinty’s announcement on September 30 clearly prejudged the second consultation process which was intended to do what former Ontario Premier Bob Rae did not—listen to the vast majority of students,” said Penny. “I was disappointed that before the review concluded, the Premier had announced that students’ views were being disregarded.”

“This vote provides an even greater mandate for student leaders who call on the provincial government to extend the tuition fee freeze and plan for reductions,” said Penny.

“In Ontario, over 80% of Ontario families believe that tuition fees are already too high,” said Jesse Greener, Ontario Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. “Judging by the overwhelming sentiment demonstrated through campus referenda, the support is even higher among students.”

Students at the University of Western Ontario, Laurentian University, University of Toronto, York University, and Ryerson University have all voted over 90% in favour of extending the tuition fee freeze and working toward reductions. These referenda are part of a province-wide vote on college and university campuses organised by the Canadian Federation of Students.

Trent promotes new image - will it loose sight of what matters to students?

If you’ve visited Trent’s website lately, two words you no longer see prominently displayed are “outstanding” and “small.” In the last two years, the Communications office at Trent has embarked on a new marketing strategy for the university, which involves changing Trent’s tag line as “Canada’s outstanding small university.”

“There was concern over the the word ‘small,’” states Don Cumming, Senior Director of Public Relations. The image of a small university put boundaries on Trent’s reputation, he says. It didn’t convey the message of close interaction with professors; “it gave the impression that Trent was a small-town university unable to fill its classes.” This tag line for Trent has been slowly removed from Trent promotional materials in recent months.

“A tag line is not the way to go for a university,” informs Marilyn Burns, Director of Communications at Trent.

Rather, a theme line proves much more effective with university marketing. Trent’s new line is “the world belongs to those who understand it.” According to Burns, students at Trent are engaged with global issues and want to make the world a better place to live in. Trent University is a place where students can learn to have a good impact on the world. It is a place where students develop a social consciousness. “This is layered into the background of this new theme,” states Burns. The new image of Trent as “a place of social engagement” will eclipse past architectural and nature images that dominated previous Trent material. The finalized slogan will be used in promotional efforts to attract prospective students.

The efforts to revamp Trent’s image sprang from discussions had by the Board of Governors two years ago. Recent years have seen a drop in student applications; the Board decided it was necessary to now take a critical look at recruitment tactics. “We wanted to give Trent a more robust strategy around student recruitment,” states Cumming. “There is intense competition for student recruitment amongst Canadian universities and a general lack of national awareness of Trent University. We want to develop Trent’s reputation.”

Trent hired a national marketing research firm, Strategic Counsel, to conduct research on where Trent is placed in the country, what its strengths are and what kind of university experience prospective students are looking for. An on-line survey was conducted within the Trent university community to gain an internal perspective. For an external perspective, on-line and telephone surveys were answered by over 1000 high school students, their parents and guidance counselors across Canada. Additionally, a series of day-long focus group sessions with 15 student participants took place in Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo.

From the feedback gained by the research, Brandhealth, a local advertising agency, developed and presented Trent Communications with various options for a new slogan and image. We didn’t want something that seemed trite or simplistic,” says Burns. “We wanted something that would reflect the depth of the Trent experience.”

“It was a matter of selecting the right words and images to capture the Trent story,” Burns elaborates. With the new marketing strategy, Communications aims “not to change anything but simply highlight what is inherent to the Trent experience.”

The runner-up to “the world belongs to” theme was a “connected” theme. “But more than 90% of those we received feedback from preferred the global theme,” states Burns. “It resonates well.”

It will take about a year “to roll the new theme out and develop various products,” states Cumming. Products include a redesigned website, recruitment brochures and images to put on university publications. Early this September, 32 Trent students took part in a photo shoot for the new Trent image. All promotional materials for Trent will showcase real Trent students, Cumming says.

The new slogan has been met with mixed reviews from students. “The world belongs to those who can afford to go to university is more like it,” comments Shannon Taylor, a psychology and philosophy student. “It’s not a bad idea to increase general awareness of Trent, but this new slogan seems kind of elitist.”

Mike Gagnon, a mathematics major, adds, “they’re pretty billboards and all, but how much is all of this costing? How will this benefit the students who are already at Trent?”

“’The world belongs to those who understand it’ definitely has more of a capitalist megalomaniacal ring to it than ‘Canada’s outstanding small university,’” shares Daniel Bastien, a fourth year politics major.

Trent Communications will be holding an open house to provide the Trent community with additional information about Trent’s new marketing position. The open house will take place Tuesday the 18th at 2pm in the Bata Library Film Theatre.

RE: The world belongs to those who understand it

Hi,

Here is a better version of the Trent slogan:

The World Belongs to Those Who Can Afford It.

Lauri Puska