OPEN LETTER FROM ACADIA PARK RESIDENTS

Dear Dr. Santa Ono,

Cc: Dr. Susan Porter

Residents of Acadia Park are currently in a financially and academically precarious position amidst the ongoing COVID19 pandemic. As you may already know, much of Acadia’s resident population consists of international graduate students with families of all sizes. Since the onset of the pandemic, many of us have lost financial security granted by the university with courses being canceled and work contracts reduced. Many of us have had to simultaneously try to meet our academic requirements and care for our children, often with frustrating results. We are writing to you to express our most pressing financial and academic concerns in the hope that you will support us during this time of need.

As mentioned above, many of us have lost financial security through the university canceling courses and reducing work contracts. Many spouses of UBC students living in Acadia Park have also suffered a loss of employment, as have single-income families. The top financial concerns facing Acadia Park families are: (1) monthly rent payments, (2) the fast-approaching summer tuition fee schedule, (3) monthly UBC daycare payments (which have still been applied in full despite daycares being closed for most of us who do not fall into “essential workforce” category), and (4) parking permits and tickets. To the best of our knowledge, these four costs to student families have not yet been re-evaluated by UBC in light of the COVID19 pandemic. While we appreciate that UBC Student Housing & Community Services has decided to cancel our $45/month annual rent increase, this is not enough. With already limited financial resources, many of us will be unable to continue paying these significant university fees.

Given the unique geographical location and legal jurisdiction of the University Endowment Lands, we are not able to access all of the government relief that has been announced so far for people in need, such as the BC government’s $500 monthly rebate for rent. In addition, many of us are international students who are left with little to no access to the emergency supports that have been announced by both the federal and provincial governments.

We are asking for a moratorium on the four above-mentioned costs charged by UBC and/or for your help in providing us with emergency financial options until the end of the COVID19 pandemic.

Our top academic concern relates to the extra time it may take us to complete our degrees. Given the current circumstances, many of us are at home all day with children. We are finding it extremely difficult to commit time to our academic work. We are grateful for G+PS’s most recent message about extending deadlines for degree milestones by at least one term but this may still be insufficient for many of us. Additionally, any extension to the time needed to complete our degrees will also result in continuing tuition fees. Many of us will require extra time to complete our programs, which adds the costs of another term of fees at the end of our programs. We are asking for you to please consider freezing our student clocks while reducing our tuition and student fees.

Acadia Park is home to many of the top student researchers at UBC. We would like to continue contributing to UBC and greater society through our academic work as soon as we can. Right now we are in a serious time of need and we are asking for your help. We would very much welcome the opportunity to engage in dialogue with you and your representatives concerning the issues outlined above. Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to hearing from you soon.