Among a projected $26.4 million budget deficit, Provost Evans speaks to the University’s financial plan.
The operating budget for the 2025-26 school year was approved during the Board of Trustees meeting on May 9, where the motion to the budget was adopted unanimously. The budget projects a total operating budget of $693.8 million and a deficit of $26.4 million. Alongside this year’s deficit, the budget also makes projections for 2026-27 and 2027-28, with deficits of $22.1 million and $24.4 million, respectively.
The report outlines several factors behind the deficit, including stagnant undergraduate tuition revenue and a decline in graduate tuition revenue.
According to the report, revenue issues largely result from both provincial and federal governmental policies—highlighting factors impacting the budget such as mandated tuition freezes, fixed government grants, and the continuation of international study permit caps.
READ MORE: International student enrolment sinks amid federal visa cap
Despite the deficit, Queen’s says it remains committed to reducing the budget shortfall, with Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic), Matthew Evans, outlining some of the University’s strategies in an interview with The Journal.
He first pointed out that revenue was moved from lower-cost tuitions, such as in the Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS), and into programs with more expensive tuition, such as Engineering and Commerce, to receive increased revenue—an idea previously introduced during March’s Senate and later approved in April’s Senate.
These program deviations have caused concerns about the Universities balance between Arts and STEM programs, yet Evans asserted that there “is absolutely no sense in which the Arts are under attack, none whatsoever, no. [But] if we want the university to be as robust an institution as it can be, we need to get to the point where we have a balanced budget,” Evans said.
For Evans, the Queen’s Renew Program—a multi-year project aimed at addressing how the University currently s “teaching and research”—is a more long-term goal. Beginning in Fall of 2024 and taking place over five years, the program aims to create “a professional services model that is more effective, ive of staff, flexible and adaptable, and financially sustainable.”
The report also highlighted that the deficit is majorly “attributable to the significant budget shortfall in the FAS.” Elaborating on this claim, Evans says the FAS is set to overspend $35 million this year, but after a $25 million subsidy from the deficit mitigation fund—which takes revenue from other faculties to subsidize the FAS—will reduce the shortfall to $10 million.
Evans also echoed sentiments in the report about a lack of governmental funding, referencing the provincial government’s Blue Ribbon . The was tasked with making a recommendation to the Ontario government on post-secondary funding, yet didn’t invest the full recommendation made by the .
“So, when they [the government] themselves seek advice, and we [the Universities] suggest you do this [invest a certain amount of money], and then they don’t do that, and they do something less than that, I think it’s fairly obvious where the ultimate problem here is. It’s easy for people to protest against us and to complain to us, but in the end, we don’t have a great deal of freedom to act if the incoming revenue is so restricted,” Evans said.
Evans hopes for the University to move forward by being able to go “back to the sorts of things a university should be thinking about,” which in the Provost’s case, doesn’t include solely dealing with budget issues, but rather introducing new programs and ways to improve the student experience.
Ultimately, Evans’ message would be to the student body at large. “I think I would like them [the students] to trust that the people in this building are here to deliver the best for the University,” Evans said.
“People can say more or less whatever they like, but I think it would be very healthy if we get to a point where there was a kind of mutual trust and respect that everyone here is interested in the best for the university.”
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John Sherbino. BAH MIR
It’s pretty darn clear where the problem lies. The feds and the province are too tight fisted and new and graduate students just aren’t stepping up!
What is a management body of a university that teaches management, social and psychological theory to do? Golly, they need a theoretical breakthrough and TAs to mark the paper.