Dalhousie University facing $20M deficit, across-the-board cuts

Dalhousie University has released its final operating budget for the next year, announcing a deficit of $20.6 million, cuts to all faculties and tuition increases for some international students.

The university is planning to run a deficit in 2025-26 and the following year, with the goal of returning to a balanced budget by 2027-28.

"Across Canada, universities and colleges are grappling with the impacts of reduced international enrolments against the backdrop of rising costs outpacing government funding. Dalhousie is no exception," reads a message in the budget document from the university provost and chair of the budget committee, Wanda Costen.

"Though our financial scenario is shared by peer institutions nationally and globally, it is up to us to resolve it in a way that supports Dalhousie's goals and priorities."

The 2025-26 budget requires all faculties and units — which include academic departments, but also other departments such as athletics, facilities management, finance and administration — to reduce their budgets by one per cent.

In addition, faculties and units must absorb the cost of compensation increases outlined in collective agreements for faculty and staff in their own budgets. Previously, compensation increases were accounted for as part of the overall university budget, and the cost was not directly passed on to individual units.

The cost of absorbing compensation increases is expected to amount to about $50 million over three years, or four per cent per year, so in total, faculties and units are effectively planning for a five per cent budget reduction over the coming year.

Job losses to come

David Westwood, the president of the Dalhousie Faculty Association, said the budget cuts will undoubtedly mean job losses among faculty and staff.

"The only way for faculties to make cuts these days is people," he said. "There's nothing but meat and bone left. Any fat that used to maybe be there like 20 years ago is long gone. You can't just like get rid of staplers and photocopiers anymore. It's people."

Westwood said the cuts will affect faculty on short-term contracts, which will simply not be renewed when they expire. Those cuts will result in program cancellations, fewer course offerings, larger class sizes and, ultimately, a poorer quality of education for students, he said. 

The job losses will also affect staff who help the university function, like administrative, technical, clerical and custodial positions.

Westwood said Dalhousie's financial picture is not as dire as it is portraying, adding that the school has capital funds, research funds and other sources of income. He also pointed out that the school has the money to build a new multimillion-dollar NHL-sized rink, currently scheduled to open next year.

"I believe they need to prioritize better our academic mission and maybe kiss goodbye some of their pipe dreams about infrastructure and new buildings and all that fancy glossy stuff and say, let's get back to business. We're a university, we teach people, that is what we do, let's do it," Westwood said.

In a statement, the Dalhousie Student Union said it is deeply concerned about the cuts and their impacts on students.

"Reductions in course offerings, increased class sizes, and diminished student supports are not just abstract numbers on a budget sheet — they directly impact the quality of education and the well-being of students who are already navigating a challenging academic and financial environment," said union president Maren Mealey.

The CBC has contacted Dalhousie University for comment.

The budget report acknowledges that the operating budget only represents about 70 per cent of the university's financial activity, but says the remaining 30 per cent relates to capital, research and "special purpose accounts" that are unavailable for day-to-day operations.

Tuition frozen for some

The budget gives more certainty to students and would-be students who were not protected by a tuition freeze.

This April, Dalhousie, like the other universities in the province, signed an agreement with the provincial government outlining funding and accountability requirements over the next two years.

The two-year agreements did not allow universities to increase tuition for Nova Scotia residents in undergraduate programs, but there were no restrictions on tuition increases for students coming to Nova Scotia universities from other provinces, international students or graduate students.

Dalhousie has opted not to increase tuition fees for undergraduate students coming from other provinces. Graduate students and students in professional programs will pay two per cent more.

Fee hikes for some international students

International students, though, face a different picture.

New and returning international undergrads who are not part of the 2023-24 or 2024-25 tuition guarantee pricing model — which ensures a fixed tuition price for a designated period of time — will see an increase of 6.7 per cent. 

International graduate students will pay 7.2 per cent more for non-thesis programs and two per cent more for thesis-based programs.

Mealey said the student union is concerned about the impacts of tuition hikes on international students.

"International students are often uniquely vulnerable to affordability crises, and tuition increases for these students only deepen existing inequities," Mealey said in the statement.

"Students should not be made to shoulder the burden of budget shortfalls they did not create. We urge the university to explore alternative solutions that prioritize students and build a more transparent, sustainable and equitable environment for all students."

In January 2024, the federal government announced a cap on international student permits amid concerns about the effect of skyrocketing numbers on the housing market and to crack down on so-called "diploma mills." The cap has caused financial turmoil for universities across the country that had come to rely on the higher tuition rates paid by international students.