Representatives of university and college faculty, administrators and students barely contained their enthusiasm upon the release of the 2000/01 B.C. budget on March 27th. For the first time in eight years, public post-secondary institutions received an increase to their base operating grants not tied to increasing student spaces. The last time that happened was in 1993 when operating grants were boosted by 2%. In this year's budget, total non-tied funding for university, college and institute operating grants increased by 4.1%
On top of this general increase, the 2000/01 budget also funds an additional 5,025 student spaces. This includes 800 spaces to expand "high-tech" programs, 400 spaces in nursing programs and 300 spaces in apprenticeship and industry training programs. Adding in new spending on student financial assistance and other apprenticeship programs, total B.C. post-secondary spending increased by $96 million or 6.2% over 1999/00 levels.
Between 1993 and this year, the only non-tied funding received by B.C. post-secondary institutions was the result of nominal changes to funding formulas. Almost all funding increases in these years came through increases in student spaces, and in some years, institutions were required to create student spaces without any increase in funding. This situation resulted in government funding per university student dropping from $9,299 in 1992/93 to $8,646 in 1998/99. After adding the effects of inflation, per student funding dropped 15.5% during this period.
Combining the drop in per student funding with a government-mandated freeze in tuition fees resulted in what The University Presidents' Council of B.C. (TUPC) calls the "revenue gap." Although government grants to B.C. universities are much higher than the national norm, tuition fees are much lower, resulting in fewer resources overall for B.C. universities when compared to similar universities across the country. Using a group of 16 comparable Canadian universities, TUPC calculated that B.C.'s four comprehensive universities receive about $55 million less revenue than the national average. TUPC estimates that the increased funding in the 2000/01 budget narrows the gap by 15%.
Details on the allocation of operating grant increases and new student spaces to institutions will not be known for several more weeks while government officials make final decisions and prepare budget letters to be sent to each institution. Based on historical divisions, however, it is expected that total non-tied funding of university operating grants will grow by 4.1%, which includes general increases for the four comprehensive universities (SFU, UBC, UVic and UNBC) and targeted increases for the two specific purpose universities (Royal Roads and TechBC). It is also expected that the comprehensive universities will receive funding for an additional 1000 undergraduate student spaces.
The funding for the comprehensive universities appears to fulfill the request made by TUPC and supported by the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of B.C. (CUFA/BC) for an overall 5% lift in institutional funding. In exchange for this funding lift, the university presidents committed themselves to a plan that will add an additional 1,000 student spaces, reduce student/faculty ratios to 1995/96 levels, increase library acquisitions, renew the emphasis on providing clean, safe and well equipped learning facilities, work on decreasing degree completion times, and continue innovations in teaching and learning.
The March 27th budget also included an additional $117 million for the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund to build and upgrade research facilities at public universities and affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes. This brings the B.C. government's total commitment to $217 million, most of which is to provide provincial matching funds for projects funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
The only thing missing from the universities' wish list for this budget was a provincial top-up for federal research grants. TUPC proposed to government, with CUFA/BC's support, that B.C. follow the lead of other provinces and provide additional research funds in proportion to the amount of federal research grants received by B.C. researchers. Similar programs operate in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta.
The success in securing substantial new funding for the post-secondary sector came as a result of all the stakeholders (faculty, students and administrators) in the system working together towards this goal. The next challenge for these stakeholders is to maintain and build upon this year's success. The provincial government received a great deal of negative media coverage for failing to balance the budget this year, and is under a lot of pressure to make significant movement towards a balanced budget in 2001/02. Furthermore, a provincial election must be held in 2002, and the provincial Liberals have been unclear as to how they would balance the budget without sacrificing public services, including post-secondary education. The B.C. post-secondary sector indeed has cause to celebrate, but cannot rest on its laurels.