Fate of tuition increase cap unclear as universities consider new funding agreements
N.S. government sent out the agreements last week
As universities across Nova Scotia consider new bilateral funding agreements from the province, a government official will not say if the previous tuition increase cap of two per cent will remain in place.
"I'll talk to you about it in a couple of weeks," Tracey Barbrick, deputy minister of advanced education, told reporters on Wednesday.
Barbrick said all 10 universities received their respective bilateral agreements last week and they have until the end of next week to sign them. She acknowledged the variety of challenges facing universities, including declining enrolment among international students, maintenance costs and the implications of inflation on all operations.
"They certainly have their work cut out for them as they look at their budgets internally, their other sources of revenue, their endowments and how they use those endowments to make sure that they're viable in the long term."
Concerns about outdated funding model
During the last school year the government capped tuition increases at two per cent for undergraduates but required increases to the rates for international students.
Appearing before the legislature's standing committee on public accounts, Barbrick noted that the schools didn't come close to filling the province's total allocation of 20,000 slots for international students last year. It's too soon to know how many of the 18,000 spots were filled this year, she said.
NDP education critic Paul Wozney said it sounds like the public should be prepared for a larger tuition increase in the next school year.
"The absence of clarity on that question, I think, gives everybody reason for alarm," he told reporters.
Wozney said the government needs to outline if it's prepared to provide universities with enough funding to help prevent major tuition increases and maintain long-term financial viability. He said the current funding formula is 25 years old.
"The auditor general characterized the operating grants that go to universities as [being] determined on an arbitrary basis. There's no fair rhyme-or-reason way to figure out how universities do and don't get money from this government and it's time for there to be clarity about that."
New monitoring approach
Interim Liberal Leader Derek Mombourquette said he's concerned about the cost of tuition for students across the province and he's waiting to see if the government steps up with more funding for universities to keep rates from getting too high.
"Our universities play such an important part in our province and we want them all to be viable," he told reporters.
The Progressive Conservative government passed legislation during the recent winter session at Province House that gives it more oversight on the operation of universities and the ability to intervene if there are concerns about the financial viability of an institution.
MLAs at Wednesday's committee meeting heard that the government will now monitor six financial indicators for universities: net income loss ratio; net operating revenues ratio; the primary reserve; interest burden ratio; viability ratio, which outlines the proportion of long-term debt that could be settled using unrestricted university assets; and the in-year surplus and/or deficit.
"This really demonstrates the university's bottom line," Cheryl To, executive director of programs and accountability for the Advanced Education Department, told MLAs.
Barbrick told reporters that universities will report the indicator information to the department on a quarterly basis and it will be used to create a baseline that can be monitored. She said officials have no immediate concerns about any of the universities.
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