UBC/UEL Updates Discussion

[jollyburger]

I assume it's more placeholder than anything what the final design will look like

[chowhou]

I see they're still pushing for a south campus station. I hope they leave the option for a Thunderbird station as well.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Seems pretty optimistic - if there is a Wesbrook station, it's probably right up on 16th next to the roundabout (where the actual bus stops are).

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Seems pretty optimistic - if there is a Wesbrook station, it's probably right up on 16th next to the roundabout (where the actual bus stops are).

That seems to be where they envision a station according to the diagram.

[Migrant_Coconut]

UBC/the developers envision a station there. There's a lot of buildings in Vancouver that made SkyTrain predictions which didn't come true.

[chowhou]

Yes, "they" meaning UBC. What are you arguing?

[Migrant_Coconut]

TransLink may have other plans. The Crossroads building was designed by the literal City of Vancouver to have room for a SkyTrain entrance; now it's more storage space for Whole Foods. This one looks much the same.

[Lexus]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

30% of masters students and 44% of PhDs are international. UBC’s bread and butter is research, not tuition. Attracting the best talent to further that and grow their reputation would be primary motivators, not fees.

Undergraduate Vancouver
48,149
Graduate Vancouver
11,139
Total Vancouver students
59,288

Majority are under grads and most are international. That’s where the $$$ are.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Lexus

They only interested to attract foreign students to make as much money as possible

Bear in mind that UBC is a public university; The more money they make from international students, the more services they can offer domestic students and the less tuition domestic students have to pay.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Lexus

Undergraduate Vancouver
48,149
Graduate Vancouver
11,139
Total Vancouver students
59,288

Majority are under grads and most are international. That’s where the $$$ are.

Are you sure? This report says are three times as many domestic students at UBC Vancouver as there are international students.

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by Lexus

Undergraduate Vancouver
48,149
Graduate Vancouver
11,139
Total Vancouver students
59,288

Majority are under grads and most are international. That’s where the $$$ are.

Under 30% of undergrads are international.

Tuition and student fees also represent less than a third of revenue.

This information is all available online.

[jollyburger]

Page 36

International students are those who require a study permit issued by the Government of Canada, to attend UBC.3F 3 Table 7 shows the number of international undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the years 2019/20 through 2023/24, by campus, and by program type. Excluded from the totals are visiting international research students who, although attending UBC and assigned student numbers, are not enrolled in “for-credit” courses (49 on the Okanagan
campus and 357 on the Vancouver campus).

In 2023/24, 17,019 international students were enrolled on the Vancouver campus, which represents a 1% decrease over the previous year. The proportion of international students was greater at the graduate level, where they comprised 39% of all graduate students. International students comprised 26% of all undergraduate students.

UBC’s Vantage College was established in 2013 to offer a transformational first-year education experience for outstanding secondary school graduates from countries with domestic school systems that are significantly different from those in North America and Europe. The college’s program, Vantage One, offers an enriched first-year undergraduate experience for international students who, after successfully completing one year of coursework combined with intensive academic English preparation, transition into the second year of their chosen degree program. In 2023/24, students transitioned into: Engineering (the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses), and Science (Vancouver campus). The headcounts for 2023/24Vantage College students are: 42 students in the Applied Science stream, and 94 in the Science stream.

https://pair.ok.ubc.ca/wp-content/up...rt-2023-24.pdf

Engineering and Science $64,732
https://vantagecollege.ubc.ca/program-fees-0

Undergrad domestic
Applied Science Year 1 $7,350.79

International
Applied Science - Engineering $ 60,622.65

https://students.ubc.ca/enrolment/fi...e-tuition-fees

Masters

Master of Architecture
2024S or 2024W
Domestic fee per instalment $2062.30
International fee per instalment $17,332.03

https://vancouver.calendar.ubc.ca/fe...aduate/masters

[whatnext]

Faculty not terribly impressed with UBC housing strategy apparently:

UBC, University Endowment Lands fuelling speculation, contributing to housing crisis, say faculty
Douglas Todd: The rate of investor ownership of housing at UBC and the University Endowment Lands is twice what it is across Metro Vancouver.
Author of the article: Douglas Todd
Published Aug 23, 2024

The University of B.C. and the University Endowment Lands contribute to the housing crisis by welcoming investors and speculators at the highest rate in Metro Vancouver, say UBC faculty.

Half of the almost 8,000 private condos and detached houses under the auspices of UBC and the UEL are not occupied by their owners, but serve mostly as second or third properties for investors.

The rate of non-occupation by owners on the UBC campus and UEL is twice the 24 per cent of Metro Vancouver, which has been ranked one of the least affordable real-estate markets in the world.

Hundreds of UBC faculty and staff have signed a petition that says the “privatization” of UBC lands, particularly by encouraging investors both domestic and offshore, is adding fuel to the fire of speculation and unaffordability.

“Frustratingly, it seems that the large majority of new market-rate homes built on campus since the ’90s are not owned and resided in by university students, faculty and staff,” said the petition.

“About half of these new strata units are investor owned, suggesting that UBC is a net contributor to housing price inflation, with recent housing efforts doing more harm than good.”..

...How can it be that 54 per cent of the high-end houses of the UEL are owned by people who don’t live in them?

“It’s part of the larger problem, which is that housing is now an asset of investors. Even with nobody living in these homes, they’ve so far been appreciating.”...

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-...housing-crisis

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Faculty not terribly impressed with UBC housing strategy apparently:

UBC, University Endowment Lands fuelling speculation, contributing to housing crisis, say faculty
Douglas Todd: The rate of investor ownership of housing at UBC and the University Endowment Lands is twice what it is across Metro Vancouver.
Author of the article: Douglas Todd
Published Aug 23, 2024

The University of B.C. and the University Endowment Lands contribute to the housing crisis by welcoming investors and speculators at the highest rate in Metro Vancouver, say UBC faculty.

Half of the almost 8,000 private condos and detached houses under the auspices of UBC and the UEL are not occupied by their owners, but serve mostly as second or third properties for investors.

The rate of non-occupation by owners on the UBC campus and UEL is twice the 24 per cent of Metro Vancouver, which has been ranked one of the least affordable real-estate markets in the world.

Hundreds of UBC faculty and staff have signed a petition that says the “privatization” of UBC lands, particularly by encouraging investors both domestic and offshore, is adding fuel to the fire of speculation and unaffordability.

“Frustratingly, it seems that the large majority of new market-rate homes built on campus since the ’90s are not owned and resided in by university students, faculty and staff,” said the petition.

“About half of these new strata units are investor owned, suggesting that UBC is a net contributor to housing price inflation, with recent housing efforts doing more harm than good.”..

...How can it be that 54 per cent of the high-end houses of the UEL are owned by people who don’t live in them?

“It’s part of the larger problem, which is that housing is now an asset of investors. Even with nobody living in these homes, they’ve so far been appreciating.”...

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-...housing-crisis

Article seems to totally ignore investor owned condos are probably rented out to a lot of students/staff.

[chowhou]

How can one man be so predictable?

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Article seems to totally ignore investor owned condos are probably rented out to a lot of students/staff.

Yes that does seem a bit strange. On the other hand the SFH issue is ridiculous.

I do wonder though why UBC doesn’t just build and rent units themselves to develop a long-term stable income stream. Now they just get a small lease payment.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Yes that does seem a bit strange. On the other hand the SFH issue is ridiculous.

I do wonder though why UBC doesn’t just build and rent units themselves to develop a long-term stable income stream. Now they just get a small lease payment.

UBC Properties Trust does have a real estate portfolio generating income.

https://ubcproperties.com/our-portfolio/

[GMD]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Article seems to totally ignore investor owned condos are probably rented out to a lot of students/staff.

Yeah, to the Douglas Todd's and Patrick Condons of the world, renters are invisible people they pretend don't exist, so that they can criticize investor-owned condos, when what they really oppose is change and immigration, but they are afraid to be honest about their true objections.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

UBC Properties Trust does have a real estate portfolio generating income.

https://ubcproperties.com/our-portfolio/

Yes but why not most of it? Backed up by the province accessing funds to build wouldn't require pre-sales for market condos. Just make it all purpose built rental.