ampus hews EDITOR SABLEEN MINHAS THE VOICE, THURSDAY, JAN, 29, 2015 3 New fee hikes upset students Students say that the notice should have been circulated earlier By JOCELYN ASPA ecent fee increases at Langara College is an issue for students struggling financially. The fee hike that came into ef- fect on Jan. 1, 2015, includes an increase in fee for the graduation application and an additional late fee. The increase also affects students requesting official transcripts and dropping courses after the first week. Clayton Munro, registrar and dean of student services, said it has been about eight years since the last fee in- crease. “The fee increases are important be- cause without them we would not be able to provide the same level of ser- vice to students,” Munro said. “They allow us to recover costs such as the rental of gowns for convocation and support services for students,” he added. As per the hikes, students willing to rent regalia for convocation will have to pay $40 and shell out an additional late fee of $25, ifthey submit their grad- uation application after Feb. 2. Refund for dropping courses after the first week has been decreased to 70 per cent, as well. In June 2014, the Langara Students’ Union learned of Langara’s intention to raise fees and objected to them. LSU’s news release issued in Novem- ber said, they “offered suggestions for [alternative] ways to close the college’s anticipated budget shortfall and im- prove student services.” However, the Langara Council ap- proved fee increases in October. An email went out on Dec. 11 advis- ing students of the hikes, almost two weeks after the fall semester. “Tt’s concerning because I’m a single mom,” said Cecilia Torres, a first year general health sciences student. “Tm already struggling as it is.” “They should have advised students before signing up for the next semester. Ihave to plan ahead to figure out what money goes where,” Torres said. “It seems a little short notice,” said Jeff Hartmann, a geography student. He said that since his courses were pre- planned, the hike did not affect him much. CECILIA TORRES General health sciences student 66 Munro said the fee increases are ’ consistent with other post-secondary It’s con ° institutions. cerning be- “We appreciate that any increase 5) can be difficult for some students,” he Cause I’m said. Munro also said that students fac- a sing le ing any financial difficulty should con- mom tact the financial aid office. Volunteer program resumes after a semester off The Volt program’s office is now open in room B112, next to the registrar and enrolment services office in the B building. MAGGIE STEWART Volunteer pro- gram coordinator 66 The Volt program is back up and run- ning this semester Volt was unable to accept applications for its formal recognition program dur- ing the break By JULIA WICKHAM up this semester. Volt is a volunteer program at Langara College. It was inactive last se- mester in order to undergo some changes. The program has moved its office to The Hub and has resumed its activities. Maggie Stewart, Volt’s new volun- teer program coordinator said, “The Volt program is back up and running this semester and we are excited to of- fer many volunteer-related opportuni- ties.” During transitions, Volt was able to offer students opportunities by posting listings online, but they were not able T’ Volt program has started back to accept applications for their formal recognition program through which volunteers can get credit for three 15- hour blocks of volunteering for a con- tinuing studies transcript. Following the transitions, Volt has made some changes to improve the program. “Not only are we offering the same high-quality services that the Volt pro- gram offered previously but we are currently developing new initiatives to expand experience and opportunities for student volunteers,” said Stewart. Volt is organizing a volunteer fair in March at the college. This will be the first time that Volt will be organizing a fair during the spring semester, Stew- art said. Emily Prévost, a fine arts student at Langara, said it’s hard to carve out time for other activities. “Volunteering is awesome but it’s tough to juggle part time job and school, let alone volunteering on top of that.” OFFICE FOR STUDENT ENGAGEMENT SABLEEN MINHAS photo Langara to talk cancer Langara Cancer Connec- tion to hold its first ever awareness seminar By TONY SU club is hosting its first ever cancer awareness talk in February. The talk will be held on Feb. 2 and Feb. 6 at Langara College. The two talks’ main objective is educating stu- dents about the prevalence of cancer in Canada. “On the first day we will talk about cancer and its treatment,” said Pourya Eslami, co-founder of LCC club. And, the second seminar will cover topics like genetics, preventions and causes of cancer. Eslami said that the club has set up two seminars because it'll be too much information for students if it’s a one- day event. The seminars will feature talks by two guest speak- ers. Anna Solnicko- va, a cancer survi- vor and spokesper- son for The Terry Fox Foundation is scheduled to speak on the first day Te Langara Cancer Connection about her battle POURYA ESLAMI with cancer and pofoun er the importance of Connecti cancer ‘onnection a cancer founda- tion. Solnickova said she would draw on similarities between her and Terry Fox during her talk. She said that she has recovered from the same type of cancer that Fox had. “T got to keep my legs because of all the cancer research that’s been done by Terry Fox Foundation,” Solnickova said. Jessica Kalra, a former cancer re- searcher at B.C. Cancer Agency and current instructor at Langara’s health sciences department, will be leading the talks on both dates. Kalra said she wants students to learn from the event and develop “a good understanding of the disease, its prevalence in Canada [and] the impor- tance in terms of the burden on the health care system.” “We're going to develop an under- standing [as] to what is a cancer cell, how it mutates and evolves,” Kalra said. She said she also plans to debunk the myths and preconceptions that sur- rounds cancer. SHOUT OUT! Nominate a student to be featured weekly! We want to highlight Langar best and brightest: extraordinary athletes, entrepreneurs, humanitarians or creative geniuses!