A new school year is around the corner. Whether you're coming back to campus or starting post-secondary for the first time, there's a lot to look forward to. At the BC Federation of Students (BCFS), we can’t wait to get back on the ground and visit our Member Local students’ unions’ campuses this month.

But before we get to enjoy pancake breakfasts, welcome week events, and introduce you to the services and advocacy you can access as a member of the BCFS, we want to take the time to remind you that student action works. When we organise together, we get results.

Over the last year, students in BC have been impacted by program cuts, growing course waitlists, student service reductions, staff and faculty layoffs, and regional campus closures, as colleges and universities struggle with serious financial challenges. But the drop in international enrolment did not create this crisis, it simply exposed how badly underfunded our public post-secondary education system has become.

Students shouldn’t be asked to pay the price for years of underfunding or settle for an education system already struggling to deliver what we need.

That’s why we spent the last year organising, speaking out, and pushing government to act.

Students Spoke Up

When cuts started happening on our campuses, the BCFS and our Member Local students' unions got to work to make sure the government understood their impact, and what students expect them to do about it.

Together, we've tracked program cuts, layoffs, service reductions and campus closures across the province. By sharing what is happening at our institutions, we have been able to show that these aren’t isolated decisions. Students across BC were losing access to the education and services they rely on.

• Student representatives went to Victoria for the Federation's annual Lobby Week last October, meeting with 40 MLAs from across the political spectrum to call for action.
• Students’ unions across the province worked together to present cohesive recommendations to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services as part of the 2027 provincial Budget Consultations.
• We spoke out during the provincial government's ongoing Post-Secondary Sector Sustainability Review.
• We held a rally to raise awareness about the impact of the cuts on campuses. Students from institutions across BC, stood in solidarity at the Vancouver Public Library and were joined by representatives from faculty associations and labour unions to call for investment in the public post-secondary education system.
•  And thousands of individual students added their voices to our calls for action, with nearly 4,000 students sending postcards and emails directly to the Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills.

Our message to government is simple and comes from all corners of our province: protect students from higher tuition and properly fund public post-secondary education.

That means:

• Protecting and strengthening BC’s Tuition Limit Policy to ensure domestic tuition fees cannot rise above 2% annually, that tuition limits are extended to international students, and that institutions cannot continue to use loopholes to shift costs to students through ancillary fees and;
• Returning public funding to 75% of operating budgets to stabilise colleges and universities in BC and begin the work of progressively reducing tuition fees to help address the affordability crisis facing students.

Our Voices are Being Heard

This summer, we got an important sign that government officials are hearing us.

The provincial Report on the Budget 2027 Consultation was released and it included a recommendation to “maintain the Tuition Limit Policy of two percent for domestic post-secondary education students and end fee circumvention.”

The Tuition Limit Policy caps annual increases to domestic tuition and mandatory fees at 2%. Students fought for and won this policy in 2005 after years of skyrocketing tuition fee, and students have defended it ever since.

Over the last year, its future has been far from certain.

Last year's Budget Consultation report recommended that the government assess the Tuition Limit Policy as part of a broader review of post-secondary funding. The government's subsequent sector sustainability review also included reviewing tuition policies with the intent of improving institutional revenues. Student leaders fear that reviewing the Tuition Limit Policy could lead to it being weakened or worse, removed.

With institutions facing serious financial challenges, students have been clear that weakening tuition protections and downloading more costs onto students is not the solution.

Now, instead of a recommendation to review the Tuition Limit Policy, the Budget Consultation report recommends maintaining it.

That’s a win worth celebrating. We weren't willing to let decades of underfunding become an excuse to make students pay more.

This wouldn’t have been possible without members like you getting involved. Student organising is about building pressure and winning change.

This is What Collective Action Looks Like

A recommendation in a committee report isn't the end of the fight, and it isn't a guarantee of what will appear in Budget 2027 or in the sector sustainability review that’s expected to be released this fall.

But progress rarely happens all at once. It happens because students on campuses across the province keep raising the same issues. Because thousands of students sign postcards. Because student representatives show up at public consultations. Because students' unions document what's happening on our campuses and bring that evidence to decision-makers. Because students are relentless even when change doesn't happen immediately.

Along the way, it's important to recognise when our collective advocacy makes a difference.

This is one of those moments. The recommendation to maintain the Tuition Limit Policy is a reminder that when students organise and speak with a collective voice, we can move the conversation.

The Fight Continues: Keep Speaking Out this Year

Protecting the Tuition Limit Policy is one piece of a much bigger fight. We need a government that treats public post-secondary education like the public service it is. That means stable public funding for our colleges and universities. It means protecting programs, services and regional access. It means making sure institutions aren't forced to solve funding shortfalls by shifting more costs onto students. And it means moving toward a system where tuition fees go down, not up.

We spent the last year making sure government heard that message. This year, we need your help to make our calls to action even louder. As classes start again, we need to keep that pressure going.

So, when you see the BCFS or your students’ union tabling Cuts Suck. Fix Education. stop by the campaign table. Send a post card with your selfie or your personal story to show how cuts on your campus are impacting you. Send an email to your MLA. Encourage your friends and other students to take action.

If your program is being cut, speak out. If courses you need aren't being offered, tell your students’ union. If services are disappearing, staff are being laid off or changes on your campus are making it harder to get your education, don't let it go unnoticed. Your experience matters.

When our members across BC tell us what's happening on their campuses, we can connect the dots. We can show government the real consequences of its decisions. And when thousands of students speak together, we're a lot harder to ignore.

Because none of the victories students have won happened by accident. Students organised for them.

In solidarity,

Debi Herrera Lira

Your BC Federation of Students Chairperson