Most of Nova Scotia’s universities are in the red. Here’s why, and what’s

Nova Scotia’s universities are planning cuts, program reviews and tuition increases to grapple with budget shortfalls over the coming year.

All of the province’s large universities are planning to run a deficit in 2025-26.

The troubled times come amid a significant drop in international enrolment, a government-mandated tuition freeze for some students and stagnating provincial funding.

Here’s the financial outlook for each university over the coming year:

• Acadia University: $2.8-million deficit.
• Atlantic School of Theology: $7,551 surplus.
• Cape Breton University: $6.8-million deficit.
• Dalhousie University: $20.6-million deficit.
• University of King’s College: $750,000 deficit.
• Mount Saint Vincent University: $1.59-million deficit.
• NSCAD University: $1.245-million deficit.
• Saint Mary’s University: $2.8-million deficit.
• St. Francis Xavier: $1.966-million deficit.
• Université Sainte-Anne: not provided or published.

This is not business as usual.

Most universities are accustomed to surpluses, not deficits. Dalhousie University, Cape Breton University and Mount Saint Vincent University have reported surpluses every year of the last five up to 2023-24, but all three are in the red this year.

Some universities have had a deficit in at least one of the previous five years, and St. Francis Xavier University and the University of King’s College have run deficits in several recent years.

The president of the Atlantic School of Theology, Rev. Heather McCance, says although the school has a very small surplus on the books right now, the new collective agreement with faculty reached on July 1 will affect the budget, but until it is ratified, she cannot provide more details.

Why is this happening?

For decades, provincial governments provided the majority of the operating revenue for universities, but across Canada that percentage has dropped from about 55 per cent in 2012 to closer to 40 per cent in 2023.

Nova Scotia is no exception. Although the province gave a two per cent increase in the operating grants to universities this year, it is not keeping pace with inflation. Government funding now makes up 33 per cent of university revenue in this province.

Many universities turned to tuition to compensate, and the global market was the focus of these efforts. International students pay a premium for studying at Nova Scotia universities, paying more than double or even triple the tuition rates charged to Canadian students.

Cape Breton University threw its weight behind this strategy of enticing international students, to the point that 77 per cent of its student body in 2023-24 came from outside Canada.

Other universities had smaller but still significant proportions of international students, with Saint Mary’s at nearly 28 per cent, Université Sainte-Anne at about 27 per cent, and Dalhousie and Mount Saint Vincent at 21 per cent the same year.

International model has crashed

But in January 2024, the federal government announced a…