For the third consecutive year, universities in Manitoba have had to craft their budgets knowing that millions of dollars less in operating grant money was coming their way from the provincial government. While students are most naturally concerned with rising tuition costs that make their studies less affordable, the loss of operating grants should be equally alarming, as year-on-year reductions are eroding the quality of the education they are paying for. 

To describe how reduced operating grants can affect the student experience, UMSU spoke to Dr. Janet Morrill, a chartered accountant and associate professor in the Department of Finance and Accounting at the Asper School of Business, and president of the University of Manitoba Faculty Association (UMFA).   

As detailed in a January 2019 report by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, government funding comprised 81% of the operating revenue of Canadian universities in 1985, but by 2015 made up only half. What are some of the dynamics that have prompted the change? 

JM: Governments have reduced their support of universities for decades. This is a troubling trend, justified by some by saying that a university education is a private good – that is, the benefits of a university education go to the individual receiving the education, so it is reasonable that the individual pay for all, or most, of that education.   

A major problem with this perspective is that, first off, its basic premise is incorrect.  The individual earning the degree certainly receives a benefit, but so does all of society. Secondly, requiring individuals to pay for their postsecondary education creates inequality, because some people simply won’t be able to do it.  This means that ultimately, they are deprived from the economic and personal benefits they would have had as a result of their postsecondary education, and society is deprived because their talents have been underutilized. And an unequal society is unjust and inherently less stable. 

What have been some of the most tangible impacts on universities and their programming due to lost funding?  

JM: Some of the most tangible impacts of smaller operating grants have been increased class sizes, fewer courses being offered, courses being offered less often, and an increased use of casual academic staff who do not have research responsibilities and do not have academic freedom. So, students are getting a less enriching education, and it’s taking them longer to get it.   

What are the types of things that operating grants go toward funding within the university environment, and how do they improve the student learning experience? 

JM: The most devastating impact from a loss of operating grants comes from the fact that most of a university’s strategic decisions are long term in nature, and that decision-making is distorted when funding is uncertain. Offering new programs, hiring permanent faculty, taking on a graduate student, upgrading new facilities or opening a new lab are all multi-year funding commitments.   

Operating grants are stable, but tuition can disappear.  As a greater proportion of funding is reliant on tuition and therefore relatively uncertain, universities are reluctant to make those investments and funding commitments.  So, a student is less likely to have a professor at the front of the class who has the academic freedom to speak freely.  They are less likely to have a professor who has an active research agenda. They are more likely to have a professor who is contending with more classes and more students. And they may be in facilities with outdated technology that are needing repair.  

The demands and opportunities within provincial and national job markets, and the global economy are changing rapidly. How might a reduction in grants undermine students’ preparedness to enter the workforce upon graduation?   

JM: Governments want us to believe that institutions will be able to do more when they are given less.  Of course, we will try, and a strong educational base is the best way a graduate can prepare for a career that doesn’t even exist today but will ten years from now.   

But the bottom line is that universities are increasingly replacing their permanent work force with casual academic staff, and are less able to fund graduate students, research labs and libraries.  That’s not the way to create the workforce the country needs.   

__

UMSU has formed an Accessible Education working group, in which students can come together to address ways to make education more affordable and accessible. Contact pres@umsu.ca to learn more and join the working group, provide feedback or suggest any of your own ideas to make education more accessible.