U of A to waive tuition costs for Ukrainian international students affected by Russian invasion

The University of Alberta is offering up to a million dollars in financial support to Ukrainian students who may be suffering financial hardship because of the Russian invasion, per U of A president, Bill Flanagan.

"As we continue to watch the devastation occurring in Ukraine, the University of Alberta has a particular responsibility to respond," said Flanagan Tuesday in a news release. He added the school has longtime ties to Ukraine and the Ukrainian community in the city.  

"We're also home to the Canadian Institute for Ukrainian studies, this is the largest institute devoted to Ukrainian studies in any Canadian university," he said. 

The University announced it will also help with living costs and expedite applications for Ukrainian students for the 2023 school year. 

Despite this, much of this information is still not known to the 50 or so Ukrainian students currently enrolled in various programs at the university.

"The University's support is extremely appreciated," said Natalie Hanas,  President of the Ukrainian Students Society at the U of A. 

Her concern is whether students are even going to find out.

"There's a little bit of a gap in getting the students to be aware of the fact that this exists," she said. 

'Impossible to leave'

During the pandemic, classes on the U of A campus went online. For many students from abroad, it meant going back home. 

Up until two weeks ago, PhD student Dymtro Yesypenko was in Edmonton.  

Yesypenko came here last year to work on his PhD in Polish and Ukrainian literature in the Modern Languages and Cultural Studies program. 

After the war broke out, he returned to Ukraine to help his parents escape to neighbouring Slovakia, where they were able to secure two free months of housing at the Slovak Academy of Science in Bratislava. 

Yesypenko said the first year of his work in Edmonton was funded through bursaries, he feels that any help from the University will be appreciated and is badly needed by students.  

"I'm not sure people are able to come back," he said. "This martial law, if you're a young person, a male person it's impossible to leave."

It's a reality U of A PhD students Ivan Shmatko, 33, and laroslav Kovalchuk, 29, are realizing. 

They were in Ukraine when the war broke out.

Shmatko says he and his partner escaped a village north of Kyiv which was being attacked by Russians, by driving his partner's parents' car for 26 hours to western Ukraine.

Now with the war, he says his educational ambitions are currently on hold.

"I don't know if we'll somehow be conscripted in the end," said Shmatko, who is staying in the Ukrainian border city of Uzhhgorod. "Even if we are allowed to leave, I'm not sure that we'll want to leave the country." 

Kovalchuk has a year and a half left to finish his PhD, he says the financial aid will help, he's just not sure he'll get a chance to access it.

"If it's ok to leave I'll do that, but I mean it's so uncertain," said Kovalchuk, who is staying with his aunt. 

"Maybe in the summer if things settle down, I'll go back to Canada and work on my dissertation, but If things go bad, maybe I'll have to put on hold my plans for a PhD."