University of Calgary facing tough decisions following provincial budget

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – The University of Calgary is still looking at how they will be impacted by the new Alberta budget.

The United Conservative budget came with a more than six per cent cut for post-secondary schools, meaning schools will be forced to make tough decisions.

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President Ed McCauley said they don’t yet know where the cuts will be made at this time.

“The cuts that we received yesterday is only one side of the ledger. The University of Calgary will be trying to use all levers to grow our revenues through partnerships to try to minimize the impact of these cuts.”

McCauley said the school is trying to work with the province’s mandate as the UCP take an austere approach to finances.

The Alberta budget is projecting a deficit for the next two years, followed by a surplus in 2023.

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Following the Oct. 2019 budget, the university cut 250 staff and it’s estimated another 400 reductions could be coming due to the latest budget.

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McCauley adds the school will do its best to mitigate the impact.

“Student experience and impact are paramount at the University of Calgary and trying to maintain the quality of that experience will be used in determining areas which we will have to make cuts.”

He adds the student experience has already been hit hard after the school was forced to increase tuition earlier this year.

Starting in April, all post-secondary schools will fall under a performance-based model for funding but criteria for the money is still being negotiated.

“We appreciated the discussion around these metrics,” said McCauley .”We’ll be working with the ministry to identify those metrics and targets we will try to achieve.”

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