New Brunswick is looking at cutting post-secondary financing to save money, but at this point, St. Thomas University is uncertain what these cuts will mean for it.
“The devil will be in the details,” said Jeffrey Carleton, communications director for St. Thomas.
Outlined in the provincial government’s Strategic Program Review, released Friday, are cuts between $15 million and $45 million from post-secondary education, which “will be reinvested into the system.”
The review outlined three ways to achieve this goal: performance-based funding for universities, a new post-secondary funding formula, and new governance legislation.
While the review outlined the goals, it did not give details or indicate what changes students should expect.
This is the first draft of the review. The minister overseeing it, Victor Boudreau, has asked MLAs to email him changes they would like to see before it’s included in the next budget and voted upon.
Although the university knew the review was coming, for Carleton, there are still too many unknowns.
“It’s too soon to say [if this is positive or negative],” Carleton said. “It’s too general to say one way or another.”
Carleton said the idea of reinvesting the money back in the system sounds promising, but it all depends on how it is structured.
He said if the government freezes spending, lets inflation take its course and then injects money back into post-secondary education, then the argument could be made the same funding was provided, but it would act as a cut as well.
“Of course we’ll be advocating the interests of us, and the interests of our students,” Carleton said. “It’s clear distinctiveness is going to be important, that diversity of course offerings is going to be important. It’s clear educating students from New Brunswick is going to be important.”
David Coon, Fredericton MLA and leader of the Green Party, says cutting money only to reinvest it back into the system doesn’t make a lot of sense.
“The question is why are they cutting at all?” Coon said. “Cutting universities is going in the wrong direction.”
For Coon, raising the corporate income tax to the same level as Nova Scotia is a better option to solve New Brunswick’s financial woes. Coon said those savings would be comparable to cutting funds to universities.
One thing to watch for, said Coon, is whether this reinvestment is a reorganizing tool: taking that money from universities and using it on community colleges, or vice versa.
“That’s the frustrating thing about this reinvesting business. I mean, what does that mean?” Coon said.
Jean Sauvageau, president of the Federation of New Brunswick Faculty Associations, said while his association is disappointed with projected cuts, they are communicating with the Gallant government.
“What we do know about universities in New Brunswick is this province is dead last with Newfoundland in terms of number of graduates in proportion to population,” the STU criminology professor said, “and 50 per cent below the national average. There’s no question we need a plan.”
Sauvageau says he has asked government if it has a plan to increase graduates; he has only heard back talk about how enrolment is down and cuts are needed.
Sauvageau fears the Liberal government, elected just over a year ago, will cut first and see what happens later.
He said the federation will continue writing emails, letters, and drafting a response to the review. He hopes student organizations will help.
“We’ll keep the pressure on the government,” Sauvageau said.
While the language in the review is vague, one line sticks out. Under the performance-based-funding measure, the review states the government wants a post-secondary education system that identifies outcomes to be met, such as “having graduates aligned to provincial priorities.”
Coon called this line “foolish” and said the government should not be interfering with what universities teach.
Carleton took a more cautious approach.
“We don’t know what that means,” Carleton said. “That’s why it’s going to be so important going forward –what exactly that means.”
