SFU-Oriented Information Centre
These are the scheduled dates from Spring 2009 to Summer 2012. (including the newly introduced Reading Breaks). First and Last Day of School are labelled with green. No Schools are labelled with Red.
Spring 2009
A lot of students (first years) have been asking me what to do after they have registered their courses. After you register for your courses, you need to buy your textbook. Your textbook should be available on MySFU (http://my.sfu.ca/). It should list your courses, books and the prices that they sell it for at the bookstore. You can buy them either online or at the bookstore.
From my past experiences, it is cheaper to buy your courses from 3rd parties (such as Chapters, Amazon). Just copy and paste your ISBC number to the amazon or chapters search box and see their price. Throughout the course of the last 3 semesters, I have saved a total of more than $400 from the listed price at MySFU.
Another thing that I would recommend is that if you are in the sciences or applied science, I would recommend you to get the Chapters iReward card. You get to save 10% on all books or textbooks that you buy from them. 10% is a lot when you are buying science or applied science textbook. The math textbook costs around $140. You get to save $14. That is only one course. If you were to buy textbooks for 4-6 courses, you would save around $60-$90, even though the membership price is $20.
After getting your textbooks, you will have to pay your tuition. If you are paying before August 31, you have the option of paying by credit card on the internet. If you do not wish to pay by credit card or you are paying after September 1, you will have to go to the Student Services Center in the Maggie Benson Center and pay your tuition there. You have the option of paying by Cash, Certified Cheque, or Debit Card (i think).
In the upcoming week, I will post why you cannot pay by credit card after September 1.
Many people have been asking me about significant dates at Simon Fraser University. Instead of telling people repeated, I have decided to make a blog post about it so anyone (not just the people who talk to me) can look at it. The below dates are for the fall semester only. I will post the Spring significant dates in November.
August
September
October
November
December
Total Number of School Days
The Health Plan Question passed at board 28 July 2008:
Are you in favour of a fee increase of NOT MORE THAN $198 per year for the purpose of offering both an undergraduate extended health plan and an undergraduate dental plan (inclusive of an undergraduate health/dental plan reserve fund and committee, broker fees, premium taxes, the cost of the plan(s), and a 1% service and handling charge requested by the University); commencing 1 January 2009?”
What it will cost: Everything above included, about $185 a year! The $198 offers a ceiling in cases costs go up in the second year.
(This includes a small reserve fund of $5 to the Simon Fraser Student Society to help mitigate administrative costs, 1% tax to the University for collecting the new fee, and the $178 cost to for the plans)
What it will cost for eight months coverage, starting in January 2009 (full year plans starting 1 September 2009) about $125
Who’s covered: all undergraduate students will be automatically enrolled, students with comparable coverage from work, parents or spouse will be able to take advantage of online opt-out with proof of insurance.
What’s covered (Extended Health Plan, $75 per year)?
Prescription drugs,
Covered at 80% with Pay-Direct Card, no forms!
No deductible
BC Pharmacare formulary (all drugs listed with BC MSP are covered)
No annual maximum
Brand name drugs allowed when Physician specifies “no substitution”
Drug exceptions allowed
Vaccinations,
Covered at 100% for up to $150 a year.
Vision Care,
Eye exams, covered $60 per 24 months
Eyeglasses and contact lenses covered $100 per 24 months
Laser eye surgery covered at up to $150
Extra coverage in Vision Network
Paramedical practitioners,
Physiotherapist, Chiropractor, Naturopath, Osteopath, Speech
Therapist, Registered Massage Therapist, Podiatrist/Chiropodist ,
Psychologist, Registered Clinical Counselor.
Covered 100% up to $30 per visit to $400 annual max. per category (HCC
also offers some services here unlimited and free to SFU Students).
Extended Care, 100% coverage for:
Ambulances
Durable Medical Equipment: including wheelchair rental, crutches, braces,
prosthesis,
Dental Accident
Diagnostic Services
Home Nurse
Tutor benefit: $10/hour, $300 max. per accident or illness (effective
if the student is immobilized by accident or illness for a period
greater than 7 days).
Custom made orthotic inserts for shoes (when prescribed): up to $300 /
policy year.
Custom made orthopedic shoes up to $300 per policy year
Accidental Death and Dismemberment (aka “Life” Insurance), up to
$15,000 per accident.
Travel Medical,
100% coverage, up to $5,000,000 per lifetime (that’s five million!),
120 days per trip, coverage for entire duration of academic exchange,
internship or co-op term
Trip cancellation: $1,500 maximum
Trip interruption: $5,000 maximum
Trip interruption and trip cancellation insurance is the 1st of its
kind in Canada, and exclusive to studentcare.net/works
What’s covered (dental plan, Lisa needs braces)?
Up to $600 per policy year insured (+network coverage)
Network coverage, the health plan broker has arranged for many professionals to lower their prices by 20% so students pay almost nothing or nothing. A list of providers is available on the studentcare website.
Preventative Services (Recall exams, cleanings, extraction of impacted teeth, etc.) Insured up to 80%, +20% network coverage for full 100% coverage at many lower mainland dentists. 1 recall exam per 12 months.
Surgical & Restorative Services (Fillings, Extractions) Insured up to 70%, +20% network coverage for full 90% coverage at many lower mainland dentists. 4 Units of scaling per year.
Endodontics & Periodontics, (root canal, ouch, gum treatment), Insured up to 70%, +20% network coverage for full 90% coverage at many lower mainland dentists.
Major Restorative (Permanent crowns, bridges, etc) 20% network
coverage at many lower mainland dentists.
The total annual premium is guaranteed for January 2009 implementation, plus 1 full policy year (September 09 – August 2010). The total annual premium includes all insurer costs, premium tax, and all studentcare.net/works service fees
Broker (Provider): Studentcare (The fastest growing Student Health Plan Broker in Canada)
http://www.studentcare.net/
This has the potential of being one of the best Simon Fraser Student Society Services since the U-Pass (Translink: Universal Pass)!
It is important to note that the Simon Fraser Student Society Extended Health & Dental Plan is not carved in stone, rather it can be an organic, evolving service where the key coverage priorities change as students begin using the Plan. Plan benefits can and should be improved and adjusted in future years based on further surveys and actual usage data. By starting with a moderate-to-high level of coverage, and appropriate cost, the Simon Fraser Student Society is in the best position to respond to he specific needs of its membership over the medium to long term.
Also, you will be able to “opt-in” your spouse and any dependent children at the same rate.
Written by The Office of the President of the Simon Fraser Student Society for the members of its society.
301,600 – Prime Minister of Canada
278,400 – Chief Justice of Canada
186,200 – Premier of British Columbia
163,040 – City of Toronto Mayor
140,000 – Member of Parliament
126,278 – City of Vancouver Mayor
117,950 – Governor General of Canada
98,000 – Member of Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
95,000 – Bachelor of Science Acturial Science
95,000 – Bachelor of Science Mathematics
95,000 – Bachelor of Science Statistics
80,000 – Bachelor of Engineering Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineering
73,000 – Bachelor of Engineering Electrical, Electronic Engineering
72,000 – Bachelor of Business Administration / Bachelor of Arts Economics
70,000 – Bachelor of Science Computer Science
70,000 – Bachelor of Business Administration Business Management
70,000 – Bachelor of Commerce
63,000 – Bachelor of Science Chemistry
58,000 – Bachelor of Science Physics
52,000 – Bachelor of Science Biology
51,000 – Bachelor of Arts Sociology
49,000 – Masters of Science Psychology
45,000 – Bachelor of Arts English
44,000 – Bachelor of Arts Philosophy
42,000 – Bachelor of Arts Fine Arts
40,000 – Bachelor of Arts Antropology
38,000 – Master of Arts in Music
21,000 – University of British Columbia AMS Executives (2007-2008)
18,000 – Simon Fraser University SFSS Executives (2007-2008)
All other Bachelor of Arts degrees are lower than 38,000 and will not be listed.
“Those earning the above-average incomes generally had degrees in applied fields: business, engineering, plus some sciences. The one constant seems to be a solid grasp of math.” – MacLeans
The above statistics are taken from a November edition of the MacLeans.
When you receive your marks at Simon Fraser University, it will say A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, or F.
If you receive an F, you will not receive credits for the course and it will hurt your GPA significantly if you are in your first two years. If you did not receive an F and still got credits, then you passed the course!
WQB
The Simon Fraser University requires all students to do something called the WQB. This WQB requires the student to take 6 credits worth of writing courses, 6 credits worth of quantative courses, 6 credits worth of Social Sciences Breadth courses, 6 credits worth of Science Breadth courses, and 6 credits worth of Humanity Breadth courses. Breadth courses only count if the courses are outside of your department. I will explain this later. In addition to the 30 credits mentioned already, students will also be required to take two additional courses outside of the student’s major program. The two additional courses does not need to be designated as breadth.
Students that are in the Faculty of Arts doing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Fine Arts are required to take 2 additional courses (14 courses in total as opposed to 12 courses).
Although I mentioned that students need to take 12 courses or 14 courses, this value may decrease. Say that you take Political Science 101 with Andrew Heard during the Spring semester, you will get 3 Social Science Breadth credits and 3 Writing credits. This allows you to “kill 2 birds with one stone”. Some students might look at the course schedule and see that COGS 100-3 gives you a B-Soc, B-Sci, and B-Hum course credit. Unfortunately, you can only pick one of those breadth to count.
I mentioned early that you will pass a course as long as you get a D. Although this is true, you will only receive WQB credits if and only if you get C- or higher in the course. Say that you and your friend gets D and C- respectively in Political Science 101, you will not get the WQB credits but your friend will.
Some friends have asked me why we need to do WQB. The answer is simple and it can be found off the Simon Fraser University website:
In the Faculty of Science, we are required to take courses that are from other departments. An example of this would be that a Biology major would be required to take CHEM 121 and CHEM 122. Currently, CHEM 121 has a B-Sci credit. Although your major requires you to take CHEM 121, you are still allowed to count your CHEM course as one of your B-Sci credits.
Prerequisites
Science courses are hard courses because they require you to think hard and will require you to understand the materials. In the Faculty of Science, we have something called a “minimum grade requirement”. With this minimum grade requirement, a grade of C- or better is required on all prerequisites. This means that if you want to take MATH 152 (Calculus II) and you only received a D in MATH 151 (Calculus I), then you may not take the course and you will have to retake MATH 151 if your program requires it.
Although the Faculty of Science has a “minimum grade requirement”, this does not apply to other faculties. The School of Engineering is in the Faculty of Applied Science and offers a course called Electric Circuits I (ENSC 220). ENSC 200 requires PHYS 121 and 131, MATH 232 and 310 as a pre-requisite. Although Physics and Mathematics are in the Faculty of Science, the minimum grade requirement does not apply. All you need in PHYS 121 and 131 is a D in order to get into the course.
MACM courses are a unit set of courses. MACM 101 (Discrete Mathematics I) is offered by the Faculty of Applied Science School of Computing Science and all other MACM courses are offered by the Faculty of Science Department of Mathematics. Since MACM 201 (Discrete Mathematics II) is offered by the Department of Mathematics, a grade of C- or greater is required. CMPT 275 (Software Engineering I) requires MACM 101 as a prerequisite but the course does not require a grade of C- or greater.
Retake
I mentioned early that you have to retake a course if your mark is not satisfactory. At Simon Fraser University, you can retake a maximum five courses in a normal degree program where you are only allowed to repeat a course once. If you need that limit to be raised, it can be raised at the descretion of the dean but your should see your academic advisor before applying.
You may view the SFU 2008/2009 Approved Operating Budget and Financial Plan here.
Currently, Simon Fraser University has 3 campuses and 6 faculties with 19,425 Undergraduate Students and 3,595 Graduate Students. Within those students, there are 1748 International Students.
The Senate approved (in April 2008) and recommended to the Board of Governors the SFU Faculty Restructuring project. It will be effective as of April 2009.
The School of Kinesiology will be relocated into the Faculty of Science.
The Faculty of Applied Science will only consist of:
The Faculty of Communication, Contemporary Arts and Design (Interim Name) will consist of:
The Faculty of the Environment will consist of:
In March, the Board of Governor approved the Tuition Fees for the year of 2008 and 2009.
They have also approved the University Services Fee for the year 2008 and 2009.
In November 2007, the Simon Fraser Student Society had a UPass Referendum which proposed a $1.60 per month increase to the upass beginning September 2008. The motion was passed by a 92% majority vote in favour of the fee increase. This fee increase will contribute to Translink service importants such as new buses for the #145 Production Way University Route and a new #95 B-Line route along Hastings Street.
The Student Activity Fee is the fee consisting of Simon Fraser Student Society membership, SFSS Building Fund/Capital Levy, Peak Newspaper, CJSF Radio Station, SFU Public Interest Research Group, Accessibility Fund, Student Refugee/WUSC, and First Nations Student Association. The Student Activity Fee is determined by the Simon Fraser Student Society.
To view the current semester’s undergraduate fees, click here.
Many people did not know about this so I will post it here for everyone to read:
A report proposing wide-ranging changes that will see SFU through to 2025 will be sent to Senate for discussion on March 3.
Removing Barriers: A Design for the Future of Simon Fraser University, is the result of 2 1/2 years of study and extensive consultation with faculty, staff and students. Prepared by the task force on academic structure, it recommends changes that will re-align and expand faculty structure, enhance interdisciplinary teaching and research, and introduce new programs focused on the environment and sustainability.
A key recommendation proposes disbanding the Faculty of Applied Sciences (FAS) and creating three additional faculties as well as a new College of Lifelong and Experiential Learning and an Institute of Advanced Scholarship.
The three new faculties would be:
The names of the new faculties are not yet determined. The report also recommends relocating the School of Kinesiology, now in FAS, to the Faculty of Science.
“These changes strengthen our academic programs and highlight areas of emerging strength at SFU while maintaining our traditional disciplinary strength in the arts and sciences,†says John Waterhouse, V-P academic. “Our goals are to make it easier to recruit high quality graduate and undergraduate students, provide an environment that will support cutting-edge research and better connect the university with its external communities.â€
A College of Lifelong and Experiential Learning would cut across all academic faculties to re-invigorate and redefine community education and outreach activities, says Waterhouse. An experiential learning division would encompass niche programs such as the Semester in Dialogue as well as a mandate to develop programs to further enhance SFU’s ongoing experiential learning programs.
The report also recognizes the need to remove a variety of barriers that impede interdisciplinarity. The task force envisions more faculty members holding appointments in more than one department while centres and institutes could offer degree-credit courses that are interdisciplinary in nature.
The report identifies, too, a need to redefine and refocus programming related to the environment. “We think it’s important to bring together the natural sciences and social sciences to develop programs dealing with environmental issues,†says Waterhouse. New programs would also be developed in the areas of information and communications technology.
While there are costs associated with the recommendations — the net cost for the faculty changes alone is estimated at $1.25 million — Waterhouse says that academic restructuring is essential to maintaining a university that moves with the times and offers a contemporary research and learning environment. Funding for the changes would come from the Strategic Initiatives Fund.
If the report is approved by the board of governors in May, some of the changes, including the new faculty structure, could be implemented as soon as April 1, 2009. Other changes, says Waterhouse, will involve more work, consultation and time.
For the complete report visit www.sfu.ca/vpacademic/Committees_TaskForces/Ad_Hoc_Committees/Phase2_TF/