By Yurly Diakunchak
Students concerned about making tuition payments next year should swing by the RSU offices, where they can pick up an entry form to win $1,500 towards their education. The draw takes place Apr. 7 at The Edge.
The fact that so few students have filled out the forms baffles Greg Thomas, v-p education. “It boggles my mind that not all 13,000 students at Ryerson would enter the draw,” he said. “I mean, it’s a chance at free tuition.”
The draw was conceived as a way to promote the Student Rights Handbook recently published by the RSU. It is the first time such a draw will take place at Ryerson.
The handbook spells out student rights and what a student should do if those rights are abused.
So far, over 1,000 students have taken the bait and filled out the brief questionnaire at the back of the rights handbook. Students who never had their rights abused, are simply required to circle “no.” For the others, there are five multiple-choice questions and a space for comments. The form can be dropped in a box outside RSU offices.
None of the students interviewed within sight of the poster advertising the free tuition had filled one out, even though most claimed to be aware of the draw.
“I don’t know why I haven’t filled one out, I just didn’t have the time,” said Hospitality Student Linda Hsiung.
Most of the students interviewed applauded the RSU’s decision to produce a student rights handbook, but questioned the need to hand out prize money.
“They should put the money towards a campaign against raises in tuition as a whole,” said Urban Planning student Ted van Vliet.
“This is a media promotion,” said second-year Business Management student Emad Boctor. “It’s not a bad way to draw student attention to the rights handbook.” However, he also says the money could be spent more efficiently.
“Maybe it would be better if there were other criteria involved. Maybe you could give free tuition to a student with good marks. Maybe we should reward hard work, not good luck,” Boctor says.
Thomas acknowledges that the draw is meant as a high-impact marketing strategy to publicize the handbook.
“We really want to push this book,” he said.
Thomas says the tuition draw will not become an extra cost to students, because the money for the tuition was assembled from RSU budget surpluses for this year. He adds that the price tag for the handbook itself is approximately $3,500. If the winner is graduating this year, they will receive the cheque directly, otherwise the money will be used to pay off the student’s tuition.
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