Faculty at Ontario universities are proposing what they see as solutions to chronic budgeting woes.
The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations recommended four solutions in its pre-budget submission, Empowering Tomorrow: The OCUFA Blueprint for Revitalizing Ontario’s Public Universities.
The submission outlines the problems "created by provincial underfunding" and offers its solutions.
- compounding annual total provincial university funding increases of 11.75 per cent for a period of five years to reach the national average.
- Instead of increasing domestic tuition, government should enhance the student assistance budget and convert loans into grants.
- review Ontario’s provincial funding formula, including the corridor model, with an embedded goal of supporting domestic enrolment growth.
- reversing the planned implementation of the performance-based funding scheme.
“For too long, faculty, staff, and students at Ontario universities have been forced to do much more with much less due to this underfunding,” said Nigmendra Narain, OCUFA President in a news release. “Our budget recommendations will ensure that our world-class publicly funded universities, not just survive in the future, but continue to thrive.”
Ontario has the lowest per-domestic student funding level for universities in Canada.
"The province provided $9,890 in total university funding per domestic full-time equivalent in 2021-22, the most recent year for which comprehensive data exists. This is a total far behind the national average of $15,807. Ontario is also the only province that imposes funding caps on domestic students—a disincentive for universities to enroll more domestic students," says the release.
The group says Ontario’s disinvestment has led universities to look elsewhere for revenue, including sky-high international student tuition fees.
"OCUFA noted the great benefits brought to our campuses by international students and warned that such a heavy reliance on their high tuition fee dollars is very risky. This number is now capped by the federal government, which underscores the urgent need for more robust, sustainable provincial funding for Ontario’s universities."
“The current state of affairs for Ontario universities is unsustainable," said Jenny Ahn, OCUFA Executive Director.
OCUFA presented its recommendations to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs in Sudbury today during Pre-Budget Consultations.
OCUFA’s full pre-budget submission is available here.
