The Simon Fraser University Child Care Society plans to raise its day-care fees but won't say how much they're going up.

Pat Frouws, executive director of the society, said the increases will be announced Oct. 26 after the society's board votes on them next week. Fee hikes are needed to raise wages for child-care workers under their new collective agreement.

"It's the only way we have to pay for the pay increase," Frouws said in an interview Thursday.

Last week, child-care workers and management reached a three-year collective agreement that includes a $1,250 bonus in the first year, plus a 2.5 per cent increase each of the following two years.

Previously, the top wage for workers was $16 per hour.

The agreement ends a strike that put the society's 13 child-care programs on hold for four weeks.

The fee increase will be tough on SFU students use the service, said Clea Moray, graduate issues officer for Simon Fraser Student Society.

"Every time you raise the fees, there's going to be more people who can't afford it," Moray said Thursday.

The hike will be especially hard on graduate students, she said, adding that roughly 18 per cent of SFU's grad students have children.

Many can't afford full-time child care and must make do with part-time care instead, she said.

As a result, master's degrees take up to five years to finish instead of two or three while students care for their children.

"You just kind of slow to a crawl with your studies - you take a leave of absence," she said, adding teaching assistant salaries - about $4,500 per semester - leave little left over for child care.

"After you pay your tuition, you pay for child care, you have absolutely no money left," Moray said.

She wants to see more provincial and federal funding for the society, as well as bursaries designed specifically for child care. …

Saman Muthukumara-na, who came to SFU from Sri Lanka to get his PhD in statistics, said the fee increase will also be hard on international students.

That's because many don't qualify for bursaries and don't have a vehicle to access cheaper child care off Burnaby Mountain.

He plans to pull his two-year-old son out of the program if fees go up too much.

"Child care is really expensive," Muthukuma-rana said.

"If they raise fees, it can be really difficult for students like me."

The university will have trouble attracting international students if fees go up too much, he added.

Frouws said she's aware some students won't be able to afford the service and expects that some will pull their children out.

But she said the society has few options because it is funded mostly through parent fees. Recent funding cuts by the federal and provincial governments hit the society especially hard, she said.

So far, Simon Fraser University, the provincial and federal governments and the City of Burnaby have not agreed to provide emergency funding to help with wage increases for workers, Frouws said. …