March 28 update: The Budget Advisory Committee's final report is now available, which modifies the recommended tuition adjustments. Read more in this Dal News story.
Dalhousie’s Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) is recommending a tuition increase of 3% in all programs for 2016-17, with additional increases via tuition adjustments for undergraduate programs in Engineering (Halifax), Agriculture and Pharmacy that will be phased in over the next three years.
The recommendations are part of the BAC’s proposed plan to balance the university budget in light of a gap of more than $15 million between projected expenditures — standard increases to faculty/staff salaries, inflationary cost pressures for items such as energy and library acquisitions, and special initiatives — and provincial funding, which is only expected to increase by $2.3 million next year.
“As in recent years, the BAC is recommending that we look to both tuition revenues and reductions in faculty/units to balance the budget and address the revenue gap of provincial funding and projected expenditures,” explains Carolyn Watters, Dalhousie's provost and vice-president academic and BAC co-chair.
Read: BACgrounder 2016: What you need to know about Dal’s operating budget plan
Read: The Budget Advisory Committee Draft Operating Budget Plan, 2016-2017 [PDF]
Read: Student tuition and fee recommendations, 2016-2017 [PDF]
Applying tuition adjustments
Tuition increases in most programs have been capped at 3% in recent years by the Government of Nova Scotia. Last April, the province announced that it would allow a one-time adjustment to tuition fees beyond the 3%, with the goal of letting universities charge similar fees for similar programs.
The BAC is recommending applying additional tuition adjustments only for undergraduates in Engineering (Halifax), Pharmacy and Agriculture, phasing these increases in across the maximum period of time allowed by the province (over three years, through 2018-19).
The BAC proposes a 5% adjustment in the fee for individual undergraduate courses taught by the Faculty of Engineering and School of Pharmacy and a 6.3% adjustment for all undergraduate courses taught on the Agricultural Campus in each of the next three years. Given that students in Engineering (Halifax) and Pharmacy take many courses outside their main departments that are not subject to this increase, the average tuition increase per year for those individuals will be less than 5%.
Based on current enrolment in the three programs, these additional tuition adjustments would impact approximately 15% of Dal students.
How were these programs chosen? Ian Nason, vice-president academic and finance, explains that the government asked universities to look at programs where tuition rates were set lower than comparable programs at other schools.
“The adjustment was meant to support universities in ensuring tuition rates were aligned with comparable programs across the region and across the country,” says Nason. “At Dalhousie, most of our programs have tuition fees that are at or above the national average for similar programs. So in considering adjustments, we were really only exploring a small number of programs, which are below the national average.”
Here’s how Dal’s current tuition fees (2015-2016) for undergraduate programs in Pharmacy, Agriculture, and Engineering compare to those in similar programs at other universities surveyed by BAC. These comparisons use Dal fees charged to Nova Scotian students as the benchmark because nearly half or more than half of students in those Faculties/programs are from the province:
• At $5,083, Dal ranks eighth out of nine Agriculture programs surveyed across Canada
• At $7,442, Dal ranks ninth out of 18 Engineering programs surveyed across Canada
• At $8,370, Dal ranks sixth out of eight Pharmacy programs surveyed across Canada
For more details on the BAC’s comparisons, see the full report [PDF].
“These are high-quality programs, with strong student demand, and programs where other universities charge higher tuition rates. These are programs with significant demands for up to date infrastructure for teaching,” explains Dr. Watters. “The BAC considered all of those factors when exploring whether a tuition adjustment was appropriate.”
To ensure that students see direct benefit from the increases, the BAC is recommending that half of the increased tuition revenue in Engineering and Pharmacy be earmarked for priority investments in those areas over the phase-in period. Because of an agreement with the province, all of the funds from the tuition adjustment for Agriculture flow directly into that campus’s budget.
Students in Engineering and Pharmacy who take classes in other faculties will not see an increase in those other courses beyond the 3%.
A balanced approach
Dr. Watters recognizes that, of course, tuition increases are not popular but that they are really the only means left by which the university can sustain the quality of its programs while balancing the budget given limitations in government funding.
“That’s why the BAC looks to both tuition increases and faculty/unit cuts together to balance the budget, rather than asking one or the other to disproportionally solve the budget reality," says Dr. Watters. "It’s the best way we can ensure that both our tuition rates and the quality of our programs can stay competitive.”
The BAC welcomes the thoughts of Dal faculty, students and staff before it submits its final recommendations to the president and the Board of Governors in April. If you’d like to provide written feedback and input, email BAC@dal.ca. There are also four information/consultation sessions for students to provide feedback on the draft report and the proposed fees for 2016-17.
[Please note: This article has been updated to reflect clarifications to details in the Budget Advisory Committee's 2016-2017 draft operating budget plan about proposed tuition increases to Dalhousie's Engineering and Pharmacy programs.]