Algonquin College board approves budget with $34.8M deficit
Enrolment expected to fall 11 per cent overall, due to big drop in international students
The board of governors at Algonquin College has approved dipping deep into reserves to cover off a projected $34.8 million deficit and pass a balanced budget.
Algonquin forecasts spending $479 million this fiscal year, which started April 1, and bringing in $444 million in revenues. It expects to spend about $50 million less than the year before — a year that saw record revenues and started out with projected spending of $564 million last spring.
It's all due to a quick reversal in enrolment trends at the Ottawa-based college and at other public colleges around Ontario.
Algonquin still expects domestic enrolment to rise by about 3.7 per cent this fiscal year. But after a period where the college grew its international student population far faster than that each year — and benefited from the higher tuition those students pay — it now expects a 40.5 per cent drop in international student enrolment this year.
College officials point to federal immigration policy changes announced in September 2024, which restricted international students from getting work permits after graduation unless they had studied in specific fields. Sixty-two per cent of Algonquin College's programs didn't make that limited eligibility list.
Algonquin is also winding down its short-lived public-private partnership offering diplomas through the private CDI College in Toronto, which once had more than 2,000 students, because of changes to immigration rules in January 2024.
From surpluses to deficits
This means after posting surpluses that averaged about $9.6 million a year since 2012, and building up its reserves, Algonquin College is now faced with finding savings and cuts.
"[It's a] good thing we have those reserves in place to be able to help with the situation," said Algonquin College CEO Claude Brulé after a meeting Tuesday.
At that meeting, the board approved using $41 million in reserves, with the expectation that $73 million would be left at the end of the fiscal year.
The amount will cover the deficit for 2025/26 and allow some key projects to wrap up, such as new science labs and a student information system.
The budget discussion was postponed to the April meeting as staff figured out how to balance the books in a changing environment.
"We recognize this is not sustainable, that we need to do things differently in order to live within our means," Brulé said.
- Algonquin College planning widespread program cuts amid ongoing financial strain
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Algonquin College's board had decided at its February meeting to suspend or cancel 37 programs and four dormant ones, and to close its Perth campus. It is also leaving a corporate training space at 700 Sussex Dr. it opened in 2020.
Because some programs will continue until current students graduate, those savings are not reflected in the budget approved Tuesday, interim chief financial officer Emily Woods told the board.
The financial picture has improved since the last estimates produced a couple of months ago, she said, after Algonquin found savings by limiting travel, professional development, contracts and some other spending. It also closed some food services.
"There's no way to cover that [deficit] off in one year," Brulé said. "The decisions that we have made, that we've announced already — and some that have yet to be announced — will all contribute to reducing and closing that gap over three years."
Algonquin is already working on the 2026/27 budget, and Brulé said it would have more to announce in the fall about other steps it might need to take.
Ontario funding
While federal policies have affected international students, Ontario's public colleges have long argued they are underfunded by the provincial government.
The Ford government announced in January 2019 that it was not only freezing domestic tuition but dropping it an extra 10 per cent. It intends to hold that stance until at least 2026-27.
Meanwhile, Algonquin's annual grant from the Ontario government will rise slightly to $110 million in this budget, representing about a quarter of the college's projected revenue.
On Tuesday, the Ontario government announced it would spend $750 million to boost funding for science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs.
Brulé told the board it was too early to say what that might mean for Algonquin College, but anticipated it might only lead to an extra million dollars.
That's not to say the college isn't attempting to line up its offerings with government priorities and industry needs.
Despite having cut 37 programs at its last meeting, the board approved four new ones on Tuesday.
Certificates in environmental health and safety management, electronics and embedded systems, and electrical techniques would all begin in September 2026. Algonquin also plans to offer a three-and-a-half-year bachelor of science in nursing degree to replace one it offers with the University of Ottawa.
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