Policy change costs some UBC students thousands more in tuition

A policy change is costing some new students at the University of British Columbia thousands more dollars in tuition, and one is accusing the university of a communications failure that has left many scrambling to come up with more money.

Yedam Jang was admitted to UBC as a transfer student for the fall 2025 semester but says since then her tuition has risen dramatically after a quiet change to how the school categorizes students in Canada on long term work permits — something she claims highlights UBC’s “growing pattern of administrative negligence, lack of transparency, and harm to students.”

Yedam says she currently resides in Canada as a dependent of a long-term work permit holder with a valid study permit.

“At the time of my application and decision to accept UBC’s offer, the university had a clear policy exempting dependents of work permit holders from international tuition fees, allowing them to pay domestic rates. That policy had been in place since 2019,” she told 1130 NewsRadio.

“But on March 28, UBC’s Board of Governors approved the sudden repeal of this exemption policy — effective May 1 — without any public announcement or communication to incoming students,” she said.

Jang only discovered the change after searching through meeting documents online.

“Even now, no university-wide email or formal public notice has been issued. When I reached out, UBC confirmed via email that no exceptions would be made, even for students like me who applied and accepted offers under the previous tuition structure,” she said.

“This isn’t just about policy change — it’s about a pattern of failing to uphold basic standards of fairness, communication, and accountability.”

For undergraduate programs in the 2025/2026 school year, UBC’s tuition for domestic students ranges between $6,000 and $10,000 per year. For designated international students, this jumps to between $49,500 and $64,000.

In a statement to 1130 NewsRadio, the university says the change only affects incoming students.

“We recognize that ending the international tuition exemption for some students with full-time work permits in Canada may be disappointing for those affected. The decision followed more than two years of careful review, during which the university determined that the exemption policy needed to be updated,” said Matthew Ramsey, director of university affairs for UBC media relations.

“As of May 1, new international students in Canada on a full-time, long-term work permit — or their spouses — will no longer be eligible for domestic tuition rates. Students who qualified for the exemption before this date will retain their status for the standard length of their degree program, as long as they continue to meet the eligibility criteria,” he added.

Ramsey says students currently exempt will not be impacted, but did not answer questions about how the university communicated the changes to new students.

“I trusted UBC enough to dream of building my academic future there,” said Jang. “I feel betrayed and discarded — not because of policy alone, but because of how the university has chosen to implement it.”

She says she chose to continue her studies at Simon Fraser University and give up on transferring to UBC to avoid paying thousands of dollars more in tuition.

With files from David Nadalini.