Most UPEI students 'very unhappy' with post-strike refunds, student union says

The University of Prince Edward Island is offering its students compensation for the learning they missed out on while faculty members were on strike — but some students say the money is not enough.

Earlier this week, UPEI said compensation would range from $150 for a domestic part-time student to $4,200 for an international full-time student at the Atlantic Veterinary College. Tuition fees for international students are much higher than for Canadian students.

The money going to students is drawn from UPEI's net salary savings during the 26 days the strike lasted this spring.

Students have the option of putting their compensation credit toward their tuition, or requesting a cheque. The university said it's received over 1,300 cheque requests so far.

Amara Sanchez came from Mexico to study civil engineering. As an international undergrad, she was entitled to $700.

But Sanchez said she pays around $8,000 a semester, so the math doesn't quite add up to her.

"I'm paying for four months of schooling. $700 is not even a quarter, and we lost one whole month," Sanchez said. "I would say it's nothing compared to what I'm paying."

Sanchez said it's been a tough semester, and she doesn't feel she has learned much since her midterms.

In addition to the strike, classes were paused during the winter break and for the 2023 Canada Winter Games.

"Most of my classes, you have to have certain knowledge from the previous semester and you have to have passed all your classes to go forward, right?" Sanchez said.

"I would say that I'm definitely going to feel a big gap and ... I'm just starting to think that the beginning of this next semester is going to be incredibly busy and I think that the professors will try to shove a lot of new information for us to try to catch up."

Gomez is not the only unhappy customer. The UPEI Student Union said it has received many such complaints from other students.

"Typically students are unhappy, very unhappy with the amount of money they received," said Noah Mannholland, vice-president of finance with the student union.

"We understand that the university doesn't have literally unlimited funds they could just give back to us. But we think 10 per cent is rather low for four weeks of courses missed and a very rushed end of the term."

Some students are more positive, though.

Dave Patel is an international first-year computer science student. He's receiving $700.

"I think it's OK," Patel said. "We utilized the library, the fitness centre, so $700 is fine."

UPEI says it tried to be fair

In an emailed statement, UPEI said its goal when calculating the payments was to be "as fair and equitable as possible while keeping the process simple in order to avoid risk of error and to be able to get payments out to students before the end of semester."

The school said it acknowledges students are the people most affected by the strike, and it's trying to be as flexible as possible for them.

In addition to the payments, students affected by the strike were able to choose to have "pass" or "fail" recorded on their transcript for a course instead of a specific grade. The course drop-out date was also extended.

Mannholland said that can help some people, but not all.

"It does have adverse effects for master's students and students hoping to get into graduate programs, and is not an option for some students looking to go into programs requiring a specific average," he said.