Questions to Consider About an Institution’s Financial Status

With the recent news of reduced number of international student permits, Queen’s budget troubles, and Quebec’s potential tuition increases for out-of-province students, we are getting many questions about the financial health of Canadian post-secondary institutions. This is a nuanced and evolving conversation. Many factors influence the financial health of an institution, including size, location, accreditation, and budget.

Questions to ask if worried about overall university financial health:

Background: We will use VIU below as a demonstration example.

• Is there a budget deficit? How big is the deficit? How does the deficit relate to the total operational budget?
• Has the university published a plan for how to address the deficit? Does this reveal
  anything about how students will be affected?

Here is VIU’s plan↗; it clearly focuses on eliminating small classes.

• What is the university’s actual mandate? This will help determine what programs will be considered most vital. This is VIU’s mandate, on page 3. It focuses on career readiness and trades, Indigenous education, balancing a budget, and capping tuition increases at 2% per year.
• Is the deficit related to a long range plan?

For example, Capilano’s purchase of the former Quest campus will expand its regional opportunities and may result in more revenue in the long-run through additional programming.

How will it affect you?

• How does my program of choice relate to the institution’s mandate?
• What faculty is my program in? Does that offer a more niche program protection

(For example: SALA at UBC is small and expensive, but it is part of Applied Science, which is a juggernaut.)

• What would be the effect of reduced faculty, reduced teaching assistants, and/or reduced classes in my program?
• How popular/important is the program I would attend in regards to institutional priorities?

(For example: are its reputation/resources more geared towards engineering than humanities?)

Other important factors to research when considering an institution’s financial health:

1. What physical shape is the school in? Is the campus clean and well maintained? Is the technology up to date? Are there new buildings being built or planned, and how will these be funded? Are there signs of innovation on campus?
2. What kind of mergers or transfer agreements exist? These often help keep enrollment steady.
3. How consistent has the leadership at the institution been? It is hard for institutions to make growth if the leadership isn’t aligned with faculty or if it has been a revolving door that has prevented progress.
4. What are the student enrollment trends? In which faculties?
5. What are current students saying? Especially those who have attended since covid? What is it like to be a student there day-to-day? How many students are in class? How many classes are online?
6. What do student support services look like? Is the institution investing in these or cutting these? Mental health support? Diversity services? Math/writing help centers? Career center and industry partners?
7. What is the local economy like? Is the town around campus thriving or struggling?
8. What is the university’s ability to adapt to a changing labour market and diversified student needs through innovative programs, micro-credentialing, and continuing education courses to attract students and increase revenues?
9. Research recent provincial education funding announcements. Is provincial funding for universities increasing, decreasing or staying the same? Are there any ‘strings’ attached with provincial funding? For example, see recent announcement from Nova Scotia Department of Advanced Education here↗.
10. Research the institution’s five year strategic plan. Where are they planning to spend money? Where are they planning to save?
11. Read the campus newspaper. This is often the best source for hot topics on campus.

Questions to ask if the concern is tied to international student visas:

1. What is the number of international university spots? How will this be affected by the new visa regulations?
2. What is the Ministry mandate about raising tuition? BC schools can only raise their tuition by 2% each year for domestic students, but there has been no cap on international tuition fees. Some provinces have current tuition freeze mandates.
3. What is the plan for the institution to make up for loss of international student fees?

Reference: https://ontariosuniversities.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Plan-for-Prosperity-July-2023.pdf↗