On January 1, 2019, the UTSU and UTMSU separation came into effect through UTM students’ official invoices. All the fees listed under UTSU on the 2019 Winter invoice have been transferred directly to UTMSU, including the as UTSU incidental fee ($34.47), the UTSU Accident and Prescription Drug Insurance Plan fee ($92.81), and the UTSU Dental Plan fee ($77.58).
“Changes to official invoices take some time and require a lengthy process,” UTMSU VP External told The Medium. “There will not be any further transfers to the UTSU from UTM students that will be shown on the invoice for membership fees and levies as of September 2019.”
The fees and levies the UTSU had collected from UTM students were transferred to UTMSU within fourteen days of receiving them from the University of Toronto’s administration, except for 15 per cent of the UTSU membership fee and 25 per cent of the Orientation levy, as per their Associate Membership Agreement (AMA).
“We do not know how the UTSU spent our UTM membership fees, we don’t think any of it was spent in the name of UTM students or UTM advocacy”, UTMSU Media stated in an email. “We also see that for the Orientation levy. The 25 per cent the UTMSU will now get back is not an amount substantial enough to make a huge impact on Orientation. We will evaluate changes to the best interest of first years and to keep it as cost-efficient as possible.”
The current Health and Dental plan organized by the UTSU will continue to cover UTM students for the paid full-year coverage, ending on August 31, 2019. The following academic year UTM students will be covered by a new Health and Dental plan organized by the UTMSU.
“We did not want to disrupt the current level of service for our students,” Abdullah continued, “We will be taking the next few months, at our Board, to run an RFP (Request for Proposal) process to tender out to a new insurance broker and provider. We will be running and managing the Health and Dental plan as of September 1, 2019.”
Regarding the fees and levies UTM students will be paying toward UTMSU services, the union reaffirmed there will be no financial changes following the UTSU and UTMSU separation, meaning UTM students will continue to pay a total of $340.78 per semester in incidental fees for UTMSU services ($681.56 per academic year).
“All current fees UTM students pay have been set by referenda,” UTMSU Media told The Medium. “Any fees that include an opt-out will also [be] following the rules of each fee that the UTSU was bound by […] At this current time, the UTMSU will be meeting with each group to discuss the local service development from each of the service groups UTM students pay into.”
“Our Operating budget that has been passed at our board shows exactly where your money is spent. Feel free to review board minutes posted on our website,” UTMSU Media concluded.
UTMSU services are subject to further change come September 1, 2019 as the changes to post-secondary education fees under the Ontario Progressive Conservative party comes into effect.
