Targetted Funding Outlined for Colleges and Universities

Friday, March 14, 2008 03:57 AM

Prince George, B.C. – Colleges and Universities won’t get their funding letters from the Provincial Ministry until April 14^th. That’s two weeks after the end of the fiscal year for colleges and Universities, and it means they will likely have to develop a provisional budget that will carry them through until they get the full details of what the Province is prepared to spend.

Senior administrators for all publicly funded institutions were called to Vancouver this week for a major huddle with Ministry of Advanced Education staff.

Word is, the Ministry will provide schools with a budget increase to cover things such as contractual agreements and the pension programs, but the balance of funding will be “targeted” to specific programs. It is the targeting of dollars which has caused some financial grief for the College of New Caledonia. Earlier this week College President John Bowman said targeted funds cover the cost of an instructor and supplies but do not cover costs of building maintenance, heating, lighting or support services. He estimated the College’s $1.1 million dollar shortfall was largely because of the inability to use any of the targeted funds for general operational costs.

Ministry Spokesman Gordon Williams says there will be growth for Colleges and Universities, but the growth and the dollars will be targeted to trades training, health care, and aboriginal access programs. He says the targeted funding will be “based on the actual costs of delivering those seats.” That could be good news if the Ministry takes into account the type of costs already pointed out by CNC President John Bowman, or it could be disastrous if , as Bowman says, the dollars are only provided for a specific instructor and supplies.

It is not yet clear what impact this funding direction of the Ministry will have on UNBC and the College of New Caledonia.

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Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 03:57 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Nowicki on March 14 2008 10:44 PM

The government should give money to institutions based on their performance and how they have spent the past funding. Some of the past funding has been totally wasted.

Consider the case of Doubling the Opportunities (DTO) program for increasing the number of seats in BC universities. In UNBC, part of the DTO money was wasted on other programs of forestry and environmental studies. The programs to whom the money was allocated got zero line of budget. Was DTO money allocated for forestry? No. The results were catastrophic, the DTO seats not only increased in UNBC, but decreased compared to other BC universities.

Or consider that strange 2006 case of giving UNBC faculty each around 3500$ to vote for a controversial article in faculty agreement to weaken the status of tenured (permanent) faculties in UNBC. Giving the power to UNBC to fire any faculty regardless of having tenured or not. The total wasted budget on this controversial vote was more than 1,000,000$ (i.e. 3500 * 400). Now the government should ask UNBC what was the source of budget for 1,000,000$ awarded to faculty for vote. Did it come from DTO budget again?

If UNBC has 1,000,000$ to waste each year then it shouldn't complain that it has financial problems.

The government should start an inquiry
into the mismanagement and introduce accountability which is lacking. The taxpayers money should not be wasted.

Posted by: tinyapplecork on March 14 2008 10:44 PM

It's so wonderful that our provincial government takes our education funding seriously. (sarcasm intended)

The expectation to have the budget prepared before hand gives our BC gov't the opportunity to hand pick pet programs IMO.

I still stand by my previous comments that the CNC Board is not tweaking their own budget and instead slashing programs to save their own salaries and overpriced budget items. However, the Board should be including utility costs as a program delivery/seat cost anyways because that is what it costs to operate the program. No heat, lights,maintenance or support you don't have a program. I mean, it is basic business sense right?

For example, let's say I have room for 100 students. Let's say the cost to deliver the program costs 100,000 for the fiscal year. Let's add oh, say 10,000 for utility and another 90,000 for maintenance and support salaries. (Only to illustrate.) So it costs 200,000. Now to break even, let's assume all 100 seats are secured. 200,000/100 is $2000.00 per student. You have a balanced budget.

Now there are a couple of ways to look at this. Since the Prov of BC waits to give their funding numbers, CNC must have to guess as to what to charge the students because they are a "not for profit". So if CNC overcharges, the gov't claws back. (right?)
On the other hand, if CNC has been mastering a balanced budget all these years, the Prov govt shouldn't need to give the funding numbers beforehand since, the Board will have a realistic estimation based on previous years and factoring in current inflation. (Most use 2.5%)

So, this again begs the question, where is the money going????