'Hard work ahead' even as University of Windsor trims budget deficit to just over $4M
The University of Windsor has reduced its budget deficit from $42 million to $4.6 million
The University of Windsor says it has cut its operating budget deficit from $42 million to $4.6 million in time for the 2025-26 academic year.
Speaking at a recent media briefing, Gillian Heisz, vice-president of finance and operations, said lower than expected tuition amounts and increasing costs, contributed to the deficit.
To close the gap, the university enacted spending cuts, including eliminating vacant positions, laying off some staff, reducing part-time teaching contracts and implementing a hiring freeze.
Heisz said the university saved $11.2 million through staffing reductions, including by eliminating 24 management and executive positions last fall.
She said the university also received $3 million in new permanent funding from the provincial government and another $4.6 million in one-time stabilization funding introduced after policy changes reduced the number of international student visa approvals.
"We have a base deficit of about $9.4 million. We've mitigated half of that with the grant that we're getting for the second year of three years from the government. So in total, our deficit is ... about 1.5 per cent of the operating budget of the university," said Heisz.
Pierre Boulos, president of the Windsor University Faculty Association, says the cuts, especially to contract academic staff, threaten the institution's core mission of teaching and research.
"Nonetheless [staff] who depend on those contracts, academics with credentials, it'll be hard for them," Boulos said, pointing to the contact academic staff and sessional instructors. "That's quite disappointing because they're the most vulnerable among the members of the faculty association.
"We're seeing that it raises worries about the mission of the university."
Boulos added that cuts to administrative staff, particularly in support roles, will have ripple effects across departments.
"It's not clear how we'll be able to deliver all the programming that we have been delivering and delivering successfully," he adds.
Morale among faculty and staff, he said, has taken a "nosedive."
Heisz emphasized the university has not cut scholarships, student jobs, or mental health and wellness services.
"Student money that goes right back in their pockets is maintained at about $30 million, which is about 10 per cent of our budget," she said. "That's something we're really proud of.
"All of those student services that are critical to helping our students right now in terms of mental health, counselling, wellness, all of those services were also untouched by this budget."
Still, the administration has paused intake for some academic programs and she acknowledged that further program-level evaluations are ongoing.
The sharp drop in international students is now projected to make up 20 per cent of the student body in fall 2025, down from 25 per cent the previous fall. Graduate student enrolment, which is heavily reliant on international intake, is projected to decline by 15.6 per cent, while undergraduate enrolment is expected to rise slightly.
Whether international enrolment rebounds remains uncertain, and Heisz said the university is closely monitoring global trends including policy shifts in the United States.
While Heisz acknowledged that about 50 to 55 staff members nearing retirement were offered incentive packages to exit voluntarily, she also said layoffs are still working through the system.
Boulos says he feels there's been a lack of transparency in the process.
"It's only recently that they finally started giving us more information. Not all of it, but university finances are difficult to understand," said Boulos.
Heisz says that despite progress in reducing the deficit, "there's a lot of hard work ahead."
"We're really happy with where we were able to get," she said, "but we're not out of the woods"
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With files from Pratyush Dayal