Photo credit Thomas Allen. Used with permission.
At the end of each year, the BC President submits the proposed college budget to the Board of Trustees, which then accepts or rejects the annual budget for the coming year. In recent years, the administrations have had to make significant budget cuts in order to manage with falling income from tuition fees and fees. This trend ended with the administration coming up with a budget suggesting an increased or stable budget for virtually every organization on campus.
Part of the reason for the lack of budget cuts this year is the higher income the college has been able to generate. In 2008, when the Great Recession hit the hardship, the college began seeing a decline in tuition income, which affected the entire college’s expenses. This situation reached a critical point in 2011 when the college administration at the time proposed salary cuts for faculty members. In the course of time, however, the enrollment rates at the university rose so sharply that extensive budget cuts are no longer necessary. The situation is very different today than it was in the past, because in this year’s budget the faculty members will receive a salary increase of 1.7%.
For the past few years it has seemed like the college was in crisis and a budget deficit seemed inevitable by last year’s projections. Last year, the college was estimated to owe $ 3.4 million in loans this year to fund its programs. This would have resulted in budget cuts affecting programs and clubs such as the MUN club, DECA and others. This budget deficit could even have resulted in class cuts that have historically been geared towards racial justice and courses on restorative justice. What has partially prevented future budget cuts and increased the security of these clubs and courses is the increasing enrollment of students in undergraduate courses at the college. Those who study at the undergraduate level pay tens of thousands of dollars for it, making them a money machine for college income. A 10% increase in this year’s BAS enrollment has guaranteed strong college budget funding.
As a rule, no cuts have been made to funding that directly affects students. The student affairs office, which funds student clubs and organizations, has had to be cut minimally. The only cuts in this area in the overall budget of the university concerned the hourly wage in part-time work, but this did not reduce the funds for the ASG. The ASG is responsible for allocating funds for various student clubs and programs and deciding on the amount of funds that each of these organizations will receive.
However, that is not to say that no program has been threatened with being removed from this year’s budget. A popular parenting education program that helps new parents learn how to raise their young children who are affected by being completely removed. This removal sparked protests in the local community, with over 800 people protesting the measure online. The administration claimed that the reduction in the program was a mistake in calculating the effectiveness of the program and that the program now faces a budget cut of only 3%. However, in a statement to K5 News, President Locke said the program was being called into question internally due to the $ 600,000 annual deficit.
Additionally, the S&A budget committee has made some minor budget cuts, mostly for arts organizations on campus. The editor-in-chief of Belletrist, BC’s literary magazine, said in an earlier interview that they had not been given funding for the coming year. The instrumental music coordinator also complained that the S&A committee completely rejected the proposed $ 42,000 budget for the coming year. But in this case Michael Kaptik said he would “intervene personally on their behalf”. Both organizations feel that the S&A committee has made it increasingly difficult for arts organizations to get funding and hope to pursue other methods of making money.
Overall, the college’s budget has increased and has resulted in maintaining or increasing budgeting for significant parts of the campus, such as the faculty salary increase. On a smaller scale, the S&A committee cut funding for several programs, but this is not an indication of the budgetary position of the whole college. Over time, the President’s Office expects an increase in funding into other areas of the campus.
source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/administration-presents-new-college-budget-the-watchdog/
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