Attending STU’s town hall budget meeting was pointless, even when compared to its dreadful inauguration last year.
“We’ll have to make, and have already made, some very difficult and unpopular decisions,” said President Dawn Russell near the outset. That’s the theme of these meetings, I think.
The President’s Advisory Committee on Budget asked in advance for attendees to bring their ideas to increase enrolment and revenue, improve retention, and create savings. Little was said in that respect.
Many voiced concern over not hiring a new Theater St. Thomas director. Students’ union president Elizabeth Murphy framed it as a factor in many students decision to enroll, given the popularity of soon-to-be-ex-director Ilkay Silk and STU’s Drama Fest.
In other bad news, the school will cancel a tenure-track in three different departments, including science and technology studies. Director of STS Jane Jenkins said this will leave their department understaffed, with herself and one other set to take time off next year. Other professors voiced similar concerns.
If rising prices and diminishing course offerings aren’t going to draw in students, I don’t know what will.
The announcement of a new administrator to oversee recruitment seems to be the only major plan the school has to increase revenues. The 162 fewer full-time students this year over last is a significant drop. Next year they’re planning to sink below 2,000 students. That’s a decrease of almost one-third in a decade.
The meeting was mostly sad explanations and apologies from STU brass. Last year, the budget advisory committee put forth a series of plans to close the gap between tuition costs at STU and the provincial average. They explained the price-jump was necessary in the face of a huge budget shortfall.
By the time drafts left the committee and the budget was actually made by the Board of Governors, the raise in tuition was $434 for three years. The closest estimate at the meeting called for only two years of $400 dollar jumps. They couldn’t say what the province would do to them for breaking the provinces tuition-hike cap. Likely, the school was anticipating something similar when the province reduced the tuition increase to $250 and had the school pay the difference back to its students.
The administration made a deal with the province that will see four more yearly increases of three per cent of the average tuition at all other New Brunswick universities, plus $170. That means at maximum, tuition will rise $356 to $5,551 before next school year.
This is the only thing we know for sure. If last year is an indication, we have no idea what the schools finances will be next year. So why do they bother? Students haven’t taken an interest, and the few ideas coming from the audience were shot down as impossible.
It seems to me the only way the administration sees this school making more money is re-filling the seats and cutting spending. It’ll be difficult to do both at the same time.
