A group of MBA students at the University of British Columbia have launched an appeal from a British Columbia Supreme Court decision dismissing their claims against the University. A Notice of Appeal was filed in the Court of Appeal on November 8, 2004.

The students received letters offering them places in the University’s MBA program for a tuition fee of $7,000. The letters said that “fees for the year are subject to adjustment and the University reserves the right to change fees without notice”. Later, after students had accepted their offers of admission and paid their deposits, the University’s Board of Governors set their fees at $28,000, four times the amount the students had thought they had agreed to pay.

One of the students learned of the fee increase while attending his opening week of classes in the fall and commenced a lawsuit for breach of contract. His claims and those of his fellow students were dismissed by Madam Justice M.E. Boyd on October 8, 2004. The judge rejected the students’ claims that the University was liable for breach of contract or misrepresentation.

Read the decision under appeal