University of Alberta board to consider ways to use one-time resource boost

After making budget assumptions that excluded a rise in its annual base operating grant and backfill for a student tuition freeze, the University of Alberta now has some extra funds for one-time investments.

The province told the university last month it would receive a two per cent increase to its Campus Alberta grant of $12.4 million.

Another $4.4 million will cover the extension of a domestic tuition freeze first implemented in 2015.

While the almost $17 million is about 1.5 per cent of the U of A’s roughly $1-billion operating budget, it’s not exactly chump change.

Rather than revisit its 2018-19 budget, which was approved on March 16, Friday’s board of governors meeting heard the funds would be treated as a budget variance deployed as “new resources in a one-time manner.”

It could go to reduce deferred maintenance, improve classrooms, pay down debt, address security concerns or to alleviate “pressure points.”

President David Turpin said an overview and discussion was to be held during a closed session, but how the money will be spent won’t be known until the university receives its final budget letter.

“We first off have to work out our net revenues,” he said.

Provost Steve Dew said the university must not use the money to fund new hires with long-term commitments.

The university passed a four per cent across-the-board cut to its budget to try and eliminate or curb its $14-million structural deficit. It is considering 2.5 per cent cuts in each of the following two years.

University of Alberta Students’ Union president Reed Larsen said one the biggest concerns was if the university — with its “sky is falling ” attitude — repeats its zero per cent budget assumption in future years and again uses any extra funding as one-time benefits.

“We would like to see that money put into the base operating grant and distributed to faculty in the way they would normally do so,” he said, to lessen the burden of the cuts.