THUNDER BAY – It remains to be seen what kind of funds both Confederation College and Lakehead University will see to stabilize their books.
The province unveiled $1.3 billion in new funding to post-secondary institutions while holding the line on the tuition fee freeze that the governing Progressive Conservatives brought in in 2019.
“I was on both campuses on Monday and I saw a pretty lively feeling there,” stated Mayor Ken Boshcoff following the Feb. 26 meeting. “It seems like the province has listened to the concerns of the post-secondary institutions with this announcement.”
“I believe the province is also playing the long game with this, which will help students learn on both campuses and will help the institutions do what they need to do, including being able to hire the instructors to handle the expected growth."
The Progressive Conservative government introduced a 10 per cent tuition cut in 2019, as it cancelled the former Liberal government's free tuition program for low- and middle-income students, and has frozen fees at that level since then.
Most of the money announced will be rolled out in the next academic year and will run for three years.
The total price tag of that is $903 million, which includes $203 million going to institutions with “greater financial need.”
The province is also committing $167.4 million for capital repairs and $10 million specifically for small rural and northern universities.
Lakehead University's board of governors approved a budget that includes a $5 million deficit in 2023-2024 while Confederation College, since reducing their tuition by 10 per cent in 2018, has lost $8 million in tuition revenue.
Dougall Media has reached out to both Confederation College and Lakehead University and we look to feature their perspective in future articles.
