Costs soar for students at VCC, where new fees and tuition hikes are being introduced.

New material, shop and lab fees are being introduced at Vancouver Community College.

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Students registering for lab tech or pharmacy assistant courses at Vancouver Community College for next September will be paying double the tuition charged today.

Besides the tuition hikes that will affect all students, many other programs for the next school year will cost hundreds of dollars more per year.

New material, shop and lab fees are being introduced. Some of the new fees are as high as $2,200.

The increase is angering VCC’s students’ union.

The union’s Kay Vandervalk says the increases will hurt a certain segment of the population.

“VCC serves a particular community, including a lot of immigrants, who can’t necessarily afford tuition fees. As we welcome more refugees into Canada, we have to be mindful that education should be accessible for everybody.”

And she says the union is trying to determine what is behind a brand new $26 activity fee, to be paid per term.

Vandervalk notes student-debt is already at an all-time high.

“Say you finish your undergrad degree with a debt of $50,000. How are you supposed to get into the housing market? How are you supposed to start a family?

According to the students’ union, tuition fees have increased every year for 14 years at Vancouver Community College.

To see a list of the new fees, click here:fee document.