To Vancouver Community College Students,
We have received a lot of questions and inquiries about the Students’ Union fees and we want to address your concerns. Although access to the Students’ Union offices is currently unavailable, we want you all to know that we are still here working for you and want to help bring a better understanding of where your fees are going as we have transitioned all of our services online.
Since the VCC suspension of on-campus classes and face-to-face services in March, we have transitioned our services to alternate delivery and are continuously working on ways to support students. Students expressed their financial concerns to us and we worked with VCC to create Emergency Aid Funding so that financial support can be directly given to students in need right away for those in the Winter and Summer 2020 semester.
As we navigate our new reality and our future along with you, we are planning for new ways to deliver services and support students – we will continue this work over the summer and into the fall and take this opportunity to find new and innovative ways to deliver services and campus community to you in collaboration with the British Columbia Federation of Students (BCFS).
We continue to advocate and lobby on behalf of students. As we hear your current concerns, we work everyday to address these issues and bring them forwardto the College. We do not have all the answers but we are working to provide updates when information becomes available.
Our work on advocating fora more accessible post-secondary education system for all will not stop. We will continue collaborating with the BCFS on fighting to get more funding to our institutions, reducing financial barriers (such as the BC Access Grant), working with our instructors to get more adoptions of Open Education Resourcesto reduce the costs of academic materials, and pushing for the elimination of interest on federal students loans (just like we did for BC student loans). We will also be keeping up our work to push for improvements to the services that students depend on.
Your Students’ Union of VCC elected representatives have been busy working on the following:
- Re-allocation of funds to contribute $20,000 to the VCC Emergency Aid Funding to get money directly to students that are in need. To apply, students can contact VCC Financial Aid directly at
financialaid@vcc.ca
- Working with Translink, Vancouver Community College and 9 other post-secondary institutions and their student associations to suspend the U-Pass for the summer semester while on-campus courses are suspended. We continue to work on ensuring that students not using their U-Pass in April will receive a refund.
- Student Advocate Service has transitioned to alternate delivery – available by email, phone, and video calls. Students can contact the Student Advocate directly advocacy@suvcc.ca
- Services to support you while you are off campus: Health & Dental Plan (including Legal Assistance Plan), GOeVisit Healthcare, The Deals App, SUVCC App. http://suvcc.ca/services/
- Student Advocacy at the college level – we are communicating with VCC every day to relay student concerns and lobbying them for answers
- Student Advocacy at the provincial and federal level (along with the BCFS) – we are communicating with the Ministry of Advanced Education and the Government of BC the needs of students and lobbying them for more financial and mental health support for students
- Information gathering and communicating directly with students through our various channels to answer questions and provide information to navigate our new environment due to COVID-19. Please check our webpage for updates http://suvcc.ca/covid-19/
We are listening and will continue to listen to you and your concerns. We know that students are worried and we are doing our best to not only gather information but also advocatefor students behind the scenes. We appreciate that students are reaching out, talking to us, and sharing with us.
Thank you for your understanding and patience while we continue to work to support you as best as we can during this crisis and transition.
If you have questions or would like to access our services, please contact
Sincerely,
Students’ Union of Vancouver Community College Board of Directors