Canadian student charged international tuition at UNBSJ says change based on Chinese name

Yukie Xie woke up one morning in May to find that her summer semester tuition at the University of New Brunswick had gone from $4,000 to $13,000.

After attending UNB Saint John for a year, she was suddenly being charged tuition as an international student. But, Xie is a Canadian citizen who has lived in New Brunswick since middle school, being brought up in Toronto before that.

Xie ignored the problem at first, thinking UNB would correct their error. But in June, she realized it wasn't going away.

"I couldn't contact UNB because I kept getting voicemail and getting transferred. I never actually spoke to someone."

She said the university then started asking for documentation to prove she's a Canadian citizen.

"It was hard for them to understand because they were so confused about my status. They were trying to get me to show documents, but I was like, 'I don't have any documents'."

It took about a week for the university to reverse the decision, but during that time Xie's UNB accounts were locked.

"I couldn't access anything. I had to text my professor and ask for a midterm extension because I couldn't access anything."

George MacLean, vice president of UNB academic, said in an interview with Information Morning Fredericton a technical glitch with the new billing system caused the fees to go up and it happened to multiple students.

"The error was detected almost immediately and that reversal of fees took place almost immediately," he said.

Xie said she believes the university assumed she was an international student because of her Chinese name.

UNB's president and vice-chancellor, Paul Mazerolle, said in an emailed statement that personal identifiers were not a factor in the technical error.

"We understand the stress, anxiety and concern this error has caused and we are looking into it closely to ensure it does not happen again. We apologize for any distress students have experienced."

"We want to be clear that racial profiling and systemic racism are real and harmful. This situation was a technical error."

Xie said she's not convinced.

"They were bringing up technical issues and I'm like 'okay, but someone is still operating the computer'," said Xie.

Xie started her university education at Dalhousie but decided she wanted to come home to continue her education.

Now, she's not so sure about her decision.

"If I had an issue with Dalhousie I would give them a call, someone would pick up and help you."

Xie said she just wishes UNB would apologize for misjudging the situation.

"They kept apologizing for the confusion, but this isn't confusion. I'm just trying to state that I'm not an international student."