Statement Regarding Summer Tuition for Graduate Students
The Canadian Comparative Literature Association/Association Canadienne de Littérature Comparée (CCLA/ACLC) calls on Chairs of academic programs in the humanities, Graduate Program Directors (GPD) and officials participating in the higher administration of their universities to grant academic extensions and suspend summer tuition for graduate students. Because of COVID-19, graduate students have been particularly disadvantaged by the suspension of their research, and, in many cases, by the discontinuation of access to university resources, such as libraries, labs, and mental health services. The responses from our Federal Government, including the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), do not address the overwhelming education costs that all graduate students bear. In addition, graduate students will face dire circumstances in terms of securing summer employment, not to mention the impact this situation will have on their future academic careers. For these reasons, the CCLA/ACLC calls for tuition payments by graduate students to be permanently suspended during the summer term, and for graduate students to receive program extensions.
