UNBC is undertaking some budget belt-tightening measures in the face of a 2.6 million dollar shortfall in revenue this year.
Tuition fees are going up by 2 percent – about $100 per year for undergraduate students – and the university is making one time contribution cuts to funds for students scholarships and awards, as well as capital equipment replacement. The school will forgo its usual contributions of $800,000 to the equipment replacement fund and $569,000 for student scholarships and awards.
UNBC President Dr. Daniel Weeks says the school’s finances are healthy despite the shortfall.
“It is because the fiscal health of the university is so good that we’re able to make these one time adjustments and get a balanced budget this year and, moving forward, we have everything in place to move us forward in a productive way. We’re the number one university in Canada. This does not go unnoticed.”
Weeks says the university will be reviewing its financial structures to ensure future stability. He stressed that the school’s scholarships and awards will remain at the same levels as previous years.
Dropping enrollment levels have taken a considerable bite out of the school’s revenues. Weeks blames decreasing levels of young people in the north and a strong economy offering plentiful jobs for the decline. He says the school will be diversifying its recruitment efforts to combat the soft enrollment numbers.
“Our typical target market here in the north is declining. We’re still firmly grounded here in the north – the university in the north for the north but we have to look more, not only provincially in the Lower mainland but nationally and internationally for our students. I will speak at any high school anywhere in this country and talk to young people about certainly the virtues of going to post-secondary education but not just going to post secondary but coming to do that post-secondary here at UNBC. Recruitment is a major part of our going forward both domestically and internationally.”
The University’s Board of Governors has approved a balanced $75.7 million dollar operating budget for the 2016/17 school year.