Still no word on tuition increases as Student Union ultimatum expires

By ABE SELIG
The National Student Union's ultimatum over tuition increases expired on Sunday, with no concrete answer as to what university students can expect to pay for their upcoming semester of studies. The union has repeatedly warned that if tuition increases, they will respond with a strike. National Student Union Chairman Boaz Toporovsky and the head of Israel's Student Organization Netanel Izak met with Finance Ministry budget director Ram Belnikov on Sunday to try and confirm the promise made to students several months ago, in which they were told that tuition costs would either be lowered or frozen. But a spokeswoman from the union told the Jerusalem Post on Sunday that the meeting with Belnikov had not been fruitful. "Nothing came of the meeting with Belnikov," she said. A separate meeting between the union heads, Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel and Education Minister Yuli Tamir, however, had gone in a "positive direction" according to the spokeswoman, who said she expected a final answer on the ultimatum by late Sunday night or Monday morning.