No tuition fees for U of T residents
CMAJ 2000;163(3):320
Medical residents at the University of Toronto appear to have won their ongoing battle over tuition fees. The Professional Association of Internes and Residents of Ontario reports that the university will not charge the fee during the 2000/01 academic year. In an update for residents, PAIRO reported that the "zero fee" is likely to continue for the next 4 or 5 years. "As it stands," says PAIRO, "no residents in Ontario will be paying tuition fees for the upcoming year."
Dr. David Naylor, the dean of medicine, said the residents "are in a unique situation in that they are at least part-time students." Dr. Kenneth Handelman of the PAIRO board said the decision recognizes "our hybrid nature as teachers, learners and service providers."
The situation is dramatically different from last year, when the university instituted an annual tuition fee of $1950 for residents. It backed away from the proposal after an angry outcry (see CMAJ 1999;161[5]:478-9). In 1999, the medical school said it needed the money to help counter government underfunding. Naylor indicates that the final word may not yet have been heard on the issue. "The tuition fee has been set to zero [for 2000/01], but it will be reviewed again in a few years," he says.
The university's undergraduate medical students didn't fare as well as the postgraduates — first-year medical students at the U of T face a fee increase of 27% this year (see CMAJ 2000;162[13]:1861). PAIRO calls the latter increase "unjustified." — Patrick Sullivan, CMAJ
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