OUSA

OUSA is a coalition of seven elected student organizations from across Ontario. They have come together to protect the interests of Ontario’s full-time and part-time undergraduate students by providing research and ideas to governments on how to improve quality and accessibility of post-secondary education in Ontario. These elected student representatives work together to set OUSA’s policies and direction. Currently, OUSA and its member schools represent over 135,000 Ontario university students.

The seven member student councils of OUSA are:

• Brock University Students’ Union
• McMaster Students Union
• Alma Mater Society at Queen’s University
• University Students’ Council at UWO
• University of Windsor Students’ Alliance
• Waterloo Federation of Students
• Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union
  

WLU undergraduate students pay their OUSA fee of $2.02 once per year. It is included as part of your Student Administrative Council fee.

OUSA has achieved some notable accomplishments over the past few years, they include:
Successfully lobbing for a five year tuition freeze (at two per cent per year for inflation), non-compounded;
Establishing a stakeholders coalition group on university education, with the aim of raising public awareness of university issues;
Successfully lobbying the government to create the Ontario Advisory Committee on Student Financial Aid;
Creating the framework for government legislation limiting ancillary fee increases; and,
Persuading the government to increase the threshold of allowable earnings for students by $1,100.

Some of the major issues that OUSA is currently concentrating on are the double cohort, access and quality of education and student debt.

If you are interested in finding out more information about OUSA please visit its website at http://www.ousa.on.ca or contact your Vice-President: University Affairs at 884-0710 ext. 3434 or lmcniven@wlu.ca