Province increases PSE funding by $60M over 3 years
A long-term commitment, but is it enough?
Tessa Vanderhart Staff
Photo by David Lipnowski.
Manitoba’s universities received a significant boost with the release of the 2006-07 provincial budget on Monday — but it won’t be clear until the U of M’s budget is released whether the province’s pledge of $60 million in funding increases over the next three years will prevent the dire financial situation that has been projected by the administration.
This is the seventh budget of the NDP government, and the seventh straight year of the tuition fee freeze. But ancillary fees or budgetary cuts are still a possibility, even though the 17 per cent increase is the largest boost to post-secondary funding in the history of the province.
Diane McGifford, minister of advanced education, said that the March 6 budget will allow universities to “make plans, set priorities [and] get direction.”
“It’s a map, and I think it’s always better to have a map than not, to give direction,” she said.
The announcement boosts the provincial government’s contribution to post-secondary education by $60 million, to a total of $470 million.
The U of M requested an increase of $13 million for this year, or 8.9 per cent, but the first stage of the province’s three-year commitment provides the university with an increase of $10 million, or 7 per cent.
McGifford said that the staggered increases in funding should help Manitoba’s universities to focus on increasing the quality of education immediately, by ensuring that the university can afford to pay its salaried professors — something McGifford said plays a role in the quality of education.
The increase in the operating grant is in addition to the last stage of property tax cuts for all universities, which frees up $1.2 million between the U of M, the University of Winnipeg and Brandon University.
Premier Gary Doer said that the 17 per cent increase represents an enormous contribution to post-secondary education, noting there has never been a higher increase in the operating grant.
Doer said that the tuition fee freeze is only the minimum commitment of the province to post-secondary education; with more funds from the federal government, one of the provincial NDP’s priorities, he said that he hopes universities can move past breaking even to “excellence.”
Doer, incredulous that the $60 million increase in funding could be portrayed in a negative light, said, “let’s come on board!”
UMSU president Amanda Aziz said that the increased funding does not mean that ancillary fees will not be an issue this spring; that will be decided by the university’s operating budget.
“I think every year students hold their breath and wait to see what the government will do with our fees,” Aziz said. “The idea that we need to lift the tuition fee freeze is unfounded; what we need is more money for our universities.”
She added that Quebec maintained a tuition fee freeze for decades, and by making post-secondary education a priority, it appears that Manitoba may find a way to do the same.
University president Emöke Szathmáry warned that, based on the budget shortfall last year, the university may still find itself short between $4 and $6 million. She noted that the university only has financial flexibility with layoffs, and does not plan to fire professors: “that would be like cutting off your nose to spite your face.” But neither does she want to reduce the number of sessionals, which would cut the number of classes offered, Szathmary said.
She added that there is a concern the three-year increases could serve as a “stranglehold”: if, with the funding increase, the university cannot balance its budget this year, then it will be unable to catch up despite further five per cent increases in the next two fiscal years.
She said that the university budget, projected for the spring, will be crunched to “somehow keep the university afloat.”
“It’s the largest increase that I’ve ever seen,” she added.
PC post-secondary critic Leanne Rowat said that the budget is a “good start,” although she noted she would have liked to have seen more increases for ongoing labour negotiations and capital costs that the university continues to incur.
“If it’s government policy . . . to continue to fund the tuition fee freeze, you’d better be funding it properly,” Rowat cautioned.
She added that she hopes to see more of Doer’s plans for the $60 million, as well as the province’s strategy in ongoing negotiations between the premiers and federal government.
Budget 2006 at a glance
This is the province’s seventh straight balanced budget. Here are some highlights.
