Mt.A’s financial sustainability town hall discussed its $1.9M budget deficit
Mt.A administration held a ‘Financial Sustainability Town Hall’ on Sept. 14 addressing the community about the school’s current financial deficit, plans to address it, and engagement opportunities for staff and students in the process. They fielded questions from audience members at the end.
Mt.A president Ian Sutherland, addressed the severity of the current budget deficit of $1.9M, saying “we have some financial challenges ahead of us and if we don’t change things we are not going to be okay.” Sutherland noted the contributing structural, external, and internal pressures on the school, and noted that mounting burdens it has put on student tuition/fees “cannot continue.”
Yet, what are the problems that produce a prolonged operating deficit? Sutherland explained each mounting pressure. External pressures such as the New Brunswick provincial post-secondary operating grant freeze, federal visa changes for international students, and mounting inflation produces tension for budget balancing.
Meanwhile, Mt.A’s structural deficit means “we are spending or requiring ourselves to spend more money than we actually have,” which will require structural budget changes to avoid third party borrowing by 2030. To address further internal drivers to the budget deficit, Sutherland underlined the importance of high enrolment driving programs, citing aviation as an example.
“Perhaps it’s in the way they are advertising the school,” said third-year Mt.A student Mya Greeley-Driedzic when asked by The Argosy about student retention at the University. “I like the fact that it’s a small town and a really tight knit community, whereas a lot of people are coming here expecting it to be a larger campus and larger community” Greeley-Driedzic said. She noted how rising cost of tuition may make education less financially accessible, and may impact Mt.A’s status as a top Canadian undergraduate university.
Following, Mt.A vice-president of finance and administration Robert Inglis emphasized that post-secondary financial hardship is not a singular issue, saying other “Atlantic Canadian universities are having these exact same conversations” and “these challenges are not unique to Mount Allison.”
In addressing the deficit, Inglis outlined the University’s “Strategic Plan” which he says “has provided [them] the focus, the north star, the direction, to implement the change.” Sutherland then clarified that efficiencies, reductions, structural change, and revenue growth will be aimed at solving the budget problem. Sutherland said the administration’s aims at “ensuring the autonomy [and] the independence of the university and ensuring that it remains as accessible from a financial perspective as it can”.
When asked about what unique experiences are provided at Mt.A that makes it rank among the highest tuitions in the country, Mt.A vice president of student affairs Nona Robinson responded that the University provides a small faculty-student ratio and undergraduate research and experiential learning opportunities that other institutions do not offer.
Following the event, a “Fiscal Sustainability Feedback Form” has been shared by the president to allow suggestions from faculty and students alike on topics like cost savings and efficiency suggestions.The Strategic Plan Implementation Group is also spearheading “Consultation Zones”, as sent out in a Sept. 15 email to Mt.A students. In this email, Courtney Pringle-Carver, chief strategy officer, said the sessions seek briefing and community engagement with the Mt.A community on “One-Year Priorities”.