BC’s cuts to universities, colleges much more than reported
New estimates put cuts as high as $60 million, up from $16 million last week
The surprise funding cut to colleges and universities in BC announced last month appears to be a significantly higher figure than originally reported. The reported $16 million province-wide cut may be as high as $50 million, according to new estimates by the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC.
BC’s post-secondary institutions were given a nasty surprise March 12 when the Ministry of Advanced Education announced a 2.6 per cent funding cut across the board, only weeks before the new fiscal year begins in April. Institutions have been scrambling since to figure out exactly how the cuts will affect their specific funding and how to absorb the shortfall into their budget — budgets that in many cases have been planned for months and recently finalized.
The original news story from the Vancouver Sun, reported a total of $16 million in cuts that would affect six universities. At the time it appeared that colleges would benefit because the money was to be redirected at high priority areas, such as health care and skilled labour training. But as the numbers have been clarified, it is clear that colleges are also grappling with cuts and that the province-wide funding shortfall is much higher than originally believed.
The Confederation of University Faculty Associations (CUFA) has been attempting to get further clarification from the provincial government, but with little luck. “They haven’t been particularly forthcoming,” said executive director Robert Clift. Clift said that the 2.6 per cent cut to expected operating funding accounts for over $40 million but “with what we have been hearing the last week, that number is probably closer to $50 million,” said Clift.
Philip Legg, policy and communications of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC, estimated that the cuts are in the $60 million range. Legg says that the shortfall is leading to layoffs at virtually every college in BC. “College presidents are saying that they are facing budget deficits,” Legg said. Some are as large as $2.3 million at Douglas College, which is a fairly large college.
UBC was initially expected to lose $8.7 million in funding. But in a statement to the UBC community president Stephen Toope said that UBC Okanagan stands to receive $4.5 million less than expected while UBC Vancouver will get $11.3 million less.
Although it is unclear where the $16 million figure came from, it is possible that the confusion stems from the fact that both base funding claw backs and seat reallocations are happening at the same time. Every institution, whether university or college, is affected by the 2.6 per cent cut to the base funding. In addition to that cut, the government is reallocating undergraduate FTE (full-time student seats), which means that many institutions are also losing per student funding.
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It’s stunning Campbell is trying to spin this as no cuts to the system.
Will the CFS take credit for the funding cuts just as they do every time there’s an increase in funding?
Let me guess; because schools voted to defederate this is a direct consequence of the fracturing of the student movement.
@ Fatty,
I find your cynicism irrelevant to this article, but a relevant point can be made from this irrelevant cynicism.
What are students going to do now without an organised front? Our efforts to fight these cuts have been rendered lame by our schism.
Any first year poli-sci student can observe what happens when the left wastes its time in-fighting. The right swoops in and our post-secondary education becomes more corporate. We’re never going to get this money back unless we learn to put our differences aside in this time of crisis and work together.
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Dude, I think there is a mistake in the first paragraph, but I have to say very interesting article. Thanks, queline Roehr