Advanced education funding cut by 6.3%
Post-secondary tuition fees to rise as NDP slams government budget
EDMONTON Universities and colleges will have to cover an increasingly bigger portion of the operating pie thanks to a 6.3-per-cent decrease in provincial funding from the prior year.
Total operating expenses for advanced education went from $5.5 billion to $5.1 billion in Budget 2020, unveiled Thursday.
“We need to have transformation in the cost of delivering advanced education in this province. We need to work together with our excellent world-class post-secondary institutions to bring that cost down, so those campus Alberta grants will decline,” said Finance Minister Travis Toews.
In 2018-19, schools funded 43 per cent of operating expenses and government funded 58 per cent. By 2022-23, that will shift to 48 per cent from post-secondary institutions and 52 per cent government funding.
“We’re also freeing up our post-secondary institutions to be more entrepreneurial and to raise additional own-source revenue,” said Toews.
Job cuts that began in 2019-20 with 300 positions eliminated across the province’s post-secondary institutions will continue with another 398 job cuts estimated for 2020-21.
Post-secondary tuition fees will go up about 11 per cent in 2020, and will continue to rise by 4.7 per cent and 4.8 per cent in subsequent years, according to the budget.
Jonathan Bilodeau, executive director of the Alberta Students Executive Council, said the budget was an improvement from the fall budget, but is worried about increased costs for students.
The council urged the UCP to keep tuition increases to no more than the rate of inflation, he said.
“Unfortunately, the government didn’t take our recommendation.”
Under the new performancebased advanced education funding model expected in April, some government funding will be tied to specific outcomes such as graduates’ income and employment rates.
The success of that outcomes-based plan depends on what the metrics are, said Bilodeau.
ECONOMIC STAGNATION
Opposition NDP leader Rachel Notley criticized the government for its cuts.
“We’re going to see fewer classes, less ability to get classes, longer degrees and significant economic stagnation as the result of not having those bright young people in our workplace,” she said.
However, the advanced education department says there are operating savings worth 10 per cent over three years, and the new performance-based model will encourage post-secondary institutions to reduce costs.
Last’s year’s budget saw provincial grants to both the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary cut by 6.9 per cent.
That meant a $44-million cut to the U of A alone, as well as a onetime suspension of $35 million for infrastructure maintenance.
The cuts — which averaged 5.1 per cent across all 26 institutions in Alberta — totalled $117.6 million in 2019.
“It’s another sad day for post-secondary,” said David Eggen, NDP critic for post-secondary. “I don’t know how institutions can manage, quite frankly.”
There’s a large contingent of young people in high school right now that will need more post-secondary opportunities, he said.
“I don’t know what they’re thinking, if they don’t understand what post-secondary is and how to run it, or if they just have a big target painted on the back of our universities and trade colleges. I would suggest it’s a combination of both, and Alberta will be suffering as a result.”