The month-long faculty strike has cost Vancouver Island University more than a million dollars in student refunds.
When classes resumed April 12, the exam period was cancelled, the semester was extended until the end of April and the university gave students the option of applying for tuition refunds until April 19.
Toni O'Keeffe, VIU spokeswoman, said the university doled out refunds for 1,200 courses, which equals about 250 full-time students.
But the real number of students who took advantage of the refund offer is more, she said, because many students chose to drop just one or two courses so they could focus on their remaining courses.
The refund amount – about $1.25 million – will not impact this year's budget because the province gave the university the green light to offer the refunds, said O'Keeffe.
"We don't know how they're going to cover these costs, we just know that they're going to," she said.
But if the withdrawals this term translate into a decline in enrolment next fall, the institution could face a bigger crunch in next year's budget, said O'Keeffe.
The university is already looking at reducing close to $3 million from the $121-million budget to balance the books.
VIU also gave out almost $7,000 in travel reimbursement costs so students with flights booked before the end of April could get airline tickets changed, and contributed $5,000 to the students' union's emergency aid fund.
Steve Beasley, students' union executive director, said the group has handed out close to $35,000 to students in dire financial circumstances due to the strike. Roughly $30,000 – about $20,000 cash and $10,000 in food vouchers – came from the union's special student aid fund.
He didn't have the number of students who took advantage of the program, but handouts were capped at $200 except for a few individuals. The needs of students were assessed by VIU's financial aid department.
Each year, the student union provides between 80 and 100 students with emergency financial aid, said Beasley, but this year the board decided to put more money into the special fund because it recognized that some students who expected to finish school mid-April would be financially affected by the extension of the semester.
The union also returned dues it collected to each student who received a full tuition refund, which cost it another $15,000-$20,000, he said.
"It seemed the right thing to do," said Beasley. "There wasn't much the student union could do to provide a resolution to the situation."
While professors voted to go back to work, no agreement was reached between the university and the faculty association on the union's major issues – job security and program cuts – and both parties are working on a resolution with a special mediator.