The Student Choice Initiative: One Year Later

The wins, the losses, and the road ahead

Last January, Doug Ford told us that our student unions were up to “crazy Marxist nonsense” and that we should have a say in where our money goes. On November 21st, the Ontario Divisional Court ruled Ford’s Student Choice Initiative unlawful.

When the Ford government first introduced the Student Choice Initiative a year ago, it was met with outrage from student unions across the province. The initiative would allow students to opt-out of paying ancillary fees deemed “non-essential,” giving students supposed choice in paying for the only the services they use. In reality, it put countless campus services and safe spaces at risk. 

By May, the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario and York Federation of Students had filed a legal challenge against the Ministry of Colleges and Universities and the Government of Ontario, stating that the Ford government did not have the authority to implement the Student Choice Initiative.

With the lawsuit still ongoing by the fall, the Student Choice Initiative was implemented for the 2019-2020 academic year, allowing students to opt-out of these fees upon registering for courses. 

Only 35 percent of Lakehead students opted in to paying their fees. The 65 percent who opted out saved a mere $200 on their tuition. 

Our 35 percent opt-in rate placed Lakehead among the universities with the lowest numbers in Ontario. Comparatively, 80 percent of students at the University of Ottawa, 83 percent of students at York University, and 85 percent of students at Queen’s University opted-in to paying their ancillary fees. 

According to LUSU President Masoud Manzouri, who spoke to the Argus back in November, the reason for this discrepancy is due in large part to the design and implementation of the online portal, which he says LUSU did not have a say in. Where the universities with high performing numbers had portals with all of the fees already opted into, requiring students to physically click and opt-out of them, Lakehead’s portal had all of the fees already opted out, meaning students had to physically click and opt-in.

Manzouri says, “I’ve reached out to other student unions in Ontario, I heard back from about ten to fifteen universities and in all the universities that I heard from, they were already opted-in.” 

The difference may seem slight, but the numbers speak volumes. 

According to Manzouri, the portal was designed based on guidelines set out by the ministry, and some universities, like Lakehead, were more cautious about the way they interpreted and implemented those guidelines. 

The most frustrating part of the Student Choice Initiative, is that it was implemented to give students a say in what our student unions were doing with our money -- but what it really did was place all the power in the hands of the student unions, who were forced to scramble to create a budget allocating these severely decreased funds, effectively deciding which services were worth saving and which ones weren’t. 

At Lakehead, Sustainability Initiative was forced to close down, severely limiting the advocacy around environmental and social sustainability on campus. 

All centre coordinators, who run Pride Central, Aboriginal Awareness, the Gender Equity Centre, the Multicultural Centre and the Food Bank had to go down to part-time, not only impacting student jobs, but also limiting student access to these essential resources.  

The Argus is currently operating with a skeleton staff, trying to complete the work that just three years ago was done by a team of twelve. More importantly, student voice is at risk of being completely silenced. 

The nearly 100 student clubs at both the Thunder Bay and Orillia campuses, who usually receive an automatic $200 from LUSU, were unable to get any funding.

LUSU was also unable to provide student bursaries or emergency loans this year. 

Manzouri says the greatest challenge though, has been witnessing how much the Student Choice Initiative has impacted campus life: “we can see that the student activity on campus has declined, because LUSU would be able to provide so many supports and services for students -- for student clubs, for programming, events, campaigns on campus… and because we were kind of looking at [a] 65% loss [in] our revenue, we had to kind of shut down and kind of put a hold on so many of those programs.”

Despite the major loss in funding, LUSU committed to providing services to all students, regardless of whether they opted in or out of paying ancillary fees this year. However, if students continue to opt-out at such a high rate, this will not be the case for long.

While the ruling in the CFS-O/YFS lawsuit was a major victory for student unions and campus services, the future of the Student Choice Initiative remains unclear. Some institutions, such as Ryerson University and the University of Toronto have shut down their online portals.

The Ontario government has applied for leave to appeal the court’s decision. 

Lakehead University administration did not respond to The Argus’ request for comment regarding the current status of the LU portal.