Applicant from PhD program after 5 Nov, 2011 connect here to get status

[pepe84]

Thanks for the suggestion, I don't want to go against the policies of my financial department so I will stay calm and wait for the CoPR! I think Canadian Universities all have different policies, starting with the skyrocketing amount of tuition Intl students pay in Ontario compared to Universities in Saskatchewan/Alberta.

In my phd programme they waived tuition for PhD students. Therefore, tuition reduction is irrelevant to us. Not sure about other programmes though.

It seems to me that it is the government policy to benefit applicants. Therefore, it should be the government responsibility to pay even though you get rejected later in the stage. In addition, I don't see how you can get into trouble - the worst scenario is that you pay them back. Maybe a visit to the school's law department and asking them to write a lawyer letter will help.

 

[TonyLiuUT]

It is literally impossible in Southern Ontario! I have tried and they ask for either CoPR or PR card!

I guess you can still try to fight with your university about it. As I remember, there was a Phd Student from University of Waterloo, he used the examples from UT and Guelph and successfully convinced the university to accept PER for domestic tuition fee. What you need to emphasize is " other universities has already accepted and changed the rules for years". Remember to google and print out the rules from other universities and show it to Office of Registration.

So, you never try, you never know. Good luck!

 

[darkknight1]

Are you guys experiencing difficulties when trying to check your eCAS status? Mine takes 5-10 minutes to log in and I have tried in faster computers!

Same thing here pepe84. It will be fine after 12 pm pst.

Have you got gcms notes yet?

 

[pepe84]

No way! My friends are from Waterloo and Guelph. There is no way it has happened to anyone here from these Universities. We have stressed all possibilities and they keep denying domestic fees with PER emails.

Please give me the contact of the person from either Waterloo or Guelph!

I guess you can still try to fight with your university about it. As I remember, there was a Phd Student from University of Waterloo, he used the examples from UT and Guelph and successfully convinced the university to accept PER for domestic tuition fee. What you need to emphasize is " other universities has already accepted and changed the rules for years". Remember to google and print out the rules from other universities and show it to Office of Registration.

So, you never try, you never know. Good luck!

 

[itsvafa]

I also know other universities that are accepting PER for changing the tuition fees. You case is strange for me.

I guess you can still try to fight with your university about it. As I remember, there was a Phd Student from University of Waterloo, he used the examples from UT and Guelph and successfully convinced the university to accept PER for domestic tuition fee. What you need to emphasize is " other universities has already accepted and changed the rules for years". Remember to google and print out the rules from other universities and show it to Office of Registration.

So, you never try, you never know. Good luck!

Hi Viva and Tony, Which universities accept PER? How can we know about this? Is there a special person/staff at the university that I need to ask?
So if I get PER by spring, I should be able to reduce my tuition for summer and afterwards!

 

[mina3000]

Are you guys in Ontario?

No way! My friends are from Waterloo and Guelph. There is no way it has happened to anyone here from these Universities. We have stressed all possibilities and they keep denying domestic fees with PER emails.

Please give me the contact of the person from either Waterloo or Guelph!

 

[Viva2014]

Are they in Ontario? I can tell you that I know people from three different Universities in Southern Ontario (including mine) and the financial department has denied them tuition reduction after they showed their PER letters. They said you must have in hands your CoPR or Permanent Resident Card. "University policies strictly prohibit tuition reduction to students who are not yet permanent residents. If for some reasons your application is refused after you claim domestic fees with your PER email, you will be in trouble. So we do not want you to be in trouble" I am quoting the words from my financial department.

Yes, they are all in Ontario.

 

[Viva2014]

Are you guys experiencing difficulties when trying to check your eCAS status? Mine takes 5-10 minutes to log in and I have tried in faster computers!

Yes, I had a problem these days. Even for me it could not open the page.

 

[Viva2014]

Hi Viva and Tony, Which universities accept PER? How can we know about this? Is there a special person/staff at the university that I need to ask?
So if I get PER by spring, I should be able to reduce my tuition for summer and afterwards!

It depends on the regulations of the university. As you can see, some of them are accepting while the others not. If you check the website of you uni, you will probably see the requirements for changing your tuition fees from international to domestic.

 

[mina3000]

Please search for THE ONTARIO OPERATING FUNDS DISTRIBUTION MANUAL. It is a pdf you can find online.

I did some research and I found this document.

A Manual Governing the Distribution of Ontario Government Operating Grants to Ontario Universities and University-Related Institutions (Formula Manual)

On the second page you will see:
The Ministry fiscal year covered by this edition of the manual is 2009-10. Unless otherwise indicated, the
rulings, procedures and definitions, etc., contained herein apply to the whole of this fiscal year and for
fiscal years beyond 2009-10 until superseded.

And I think this is the last version of this document till now. I mean at the time I found it.


On the page 67 section 5.1.4, it is written:
The categories of international students that are
eligible or ineligible to be counted for funding purposes are listed in Section 4.1 and 4.2, respectively

and on page 44 section 4.1.2 part b you will find:


a person who has been approved “in-principle” for permanent resident status in Canada. Evidence
of this is a letter which confirms that Citizenship and Immigration Canada has determined that
he/she is eligible for immigration to Canada or meets the eligibility requirements to apply for
permanent resident status in Canada.


Based on this information, it is obvious that we can change our tuition. This statement does not say we have PR.
It is enough to be eligible to apply. However you may be rejected because, in the appendix5 in the sample letters you can see this sentence:

However, a final decision will not be made until all remaining requirements for becoming a permanent resident have been met.


The sample letters are just like us. And it says that it is a sample letter and does not mean all kinds of letters are included.
If you take a look at pages 45, you will see that this is not only for Canadians or permanent residents. (some people say that we may be rejected, yes this is true. We may be rejected, but we still eligible to apply and we are part of this law).

Moreover in page 44 paragraph 3 line 3 you will see:

It is the responsibility of the universities to see that no eligible students are unclaimed.

If they dont listen to you at your university. Contact the ministry I suggest. But show them this document.

Hi Viva and Tony, Which universities accept PER? How can we know about this? Is there a special person/staff at the university that I need to ask?
So if I get PER by spring, I should be able to reduce my tuition for summer and afterwards!

 

[TonyLiuUT]

No way! My friends are from Waterloo and Guelph. There is no way it has happened to anyone here from these Universities. We have stressed all possibilities and they keep denying domestic fees with PER emails.

Please give me the contact of the person from either Waterloo or Guelph!

Hi Pepe,

I read that story from a Chinese BBS of UW" http://bbs.uwcssa.com/", I can't promise it is 100% correct, coz it is a " hear & say", but I do believe what Mina3000 mentioned above could be very helpful.

 

[Viva2014]

It depends on how strong you are. I remember when I came to my university, all my friends from previous years were fighting for their rights regarding this issue (changing tuition fees). Our university was not accepting it but finally accepted it.

 

[mina3000]

this is you right. you have been "approval-in-principle".

Here is the link for two universities that already have it. Please note that the ministry will pay the rest of your tuition. So, there is no loose for the university.

http://www.fees.utoronto.ca/Page1013.aspx

http://uoit.ca/main/current-students/money-matters/tuition-and-fees/changing-international-fee-status-to-the-domestic-tuition-rate/categories-eligible-for-domestic-fees.php

We have done this and I know that it is doable. It takes time though.

Hi Pepe,

I read that story from a Chinese BBS of UW" http://bbs.uwcssa.com/", I can't promise it is 100% correct, coz it is a " hear & say", but I do believe what Mina3000 mentioned above could be very helpful.

 

[meyakanor]

No way! My friends are from Waterloo and Guelph. There is no way it has happened to anyone here from these Universities. We have stressed all possibilities and they keep denying domestic fees with PER emails.

Please give me the contact of the person from either Waterloo or Guelph!

pepe84, I was a student at the University of Waterloo, and my tuition was reduced to domestic even before I got my PR. I fought tooth and nail with the UW immigration advisor, and in the end, after she confirmed with the ministry, they issued a university-wide email stating that PhD stream applicants with PER can have their tuition reduced. A lot of people benefited from this. This was two years ago.

One of my other friends, who applied in October 2013 (he already got his PR now) also got his tuition status changed to domestic after he got his PER email. PER email DOES make one eligible for domestic tuition for universities in Ontario. I will can send you some pointers on whom you should contact at the UW. Send me a PM.

 

[itsvafa]

Ok, it is for Ontario then! Does anyone know about BC?