Wrongful university tuition

[parsa_taheri]

Hello,

I am an undergraduate student at York University in Ontario Canada. I am not a Canadian citizen, and am in Canada by a student visa. Both my parents have valid work permits. For the past 2 years, I have been paying international tuition, however, I recently found out that as a dependent(child) of someone with a work permit, you are eligible for domestic tuition, (which is almost 1/3 of the cost of international) which means that my family has been overpaying a ton over the past two years. I contacted the University financial department regarding this situation and they told me that 'I had passed the deadline to inform them of a status change', so I said that there has not been a 'status change' in my case as nothing has changed, and therefore the deadline is irrelevant in my case. They then told me to wait until they 'review' my case and make a final decision. The other day they contacted me and said that from now on I am eligible for domestic tuition but the previous semesters will still remain at international rate, and that 'this decision is based on the review of the timeline, procedures, and the documentation that was submitted'. This is complete non sense and unfair. I was not made aware of the fact that I was eligible for domestic tuition this whole time, and had only paid what the university had billed me, as I was under the impression that the 'non-citizen/resident' is supposed to pay international tuition. I am not sure what to do or how to respond as this is the second time I have asked them to reassess my case. I have been considering talking to a lawyer but thought Id try my luck here first.

I appreciate any help.
Thanks,

 

[ShyCat]

Sorry, this site is for US legal issues. You'll have to find one for Canada.

 

[Taxing Matters]

This is complete non sense and unfair. I was not made aware of the fact that I was eligible for domestic tuition this whole time, and had only paid what the university had billed me, as I was under the impression that the 'non-citizen/resident' is supposed to pay international tuition. I am not sure what to do or how to respond as this is the second time I have asked them to reassess my case.

If you were attending school in the U.S. you would find much the same problem when it comes to state schools. You have the responsibility to determine if you qualify for in state tuition before the semester or quarter starts and apply on that basis. It's not up to the school to determine that for you. And if you wise up too late and discover you were eligible after the semester or quarter is over you may find you won't get it because you were too late asking for it. I expect that on this issue Canadian law is not all that much different. But certainly it may be worth seeing a Canadian lawyer for a review to see if anything can be done now.

 

[xylene]

Contact your University ombudsman, maybe something can be worked out.

Unfortunately, you may be stuck. Unless you can show specifically that you applied as a dependent of a person on a work permit and they willfully miscategorized you, it was incumbent on to know and understand your status.