Provincial Budget Cuts

[Vidhya]

Hello everyone,

 

I had noticed that U of C admissions seems extremely quiet this year compared to past years. Obviously they are very busy, but updates on the blog have been very few and far in-between (the last one mid-Feb) whereas compared to last year Dr. Walker was sending out updates on various issues such as the CARMS match. The seat decrease was a huge disappointment that I think ups the stress for all of us this year, but I had another unsettling thought given the recent provincial cuts, and I hope we’re not due for worse news.

 

This year’s seat decrease was announced prior to the provincial budget. Now we know that the province is planning unprecedented cuts to post-secondary in Alberta, something that we haven't seen since the mid-1990's. Although funding the past 15 or so years hasn’t been fantastic, it has at least been manageable with at least 2% increases on base operating funding, combined with generous capital expansion budgets for many institutions. U of C’s med school increased in size from 100 to the one time high of 180 students in 2009.

 

Now we have just found out that the government is planning a 7.3% DECREASE to base funding when most institutions were anticipating a 2% increase, resulting in a loss of 9.3% of anticipated base operating funding for the upcoming academic year. The ministry’s response has been extremely antagonistic with all publicly funded institutions being sent these “Letters of Expectation” that the government expects each institution’s leadership to sign. One of the important issues highlighted is the need to decrease duplication and to streamline program delivery.

 

The entire situation is quite nauseating, particularly when you consider the high cost of medical education. I’ve now started to worry that both the U of C and U of A will be forced to cut additional seats unexpectedly due to this recent budget announcement. Rather than sit and continue worrying about this though, I thought I would post and see how others are feeling about this situation. Perhaps we as a cohort should make our voices heard to the ministry that these proposed cuts could be disastrous to medical education, all the way from pre-med through to residency.

 

Anyway, before I go on much longer, please post your thoughts and ideas. They are greatly appreciated.

[surferdoc]

I was under the impression the reduction in seats was due to the budget cuts. I could be wrong, but I don't know if there is a lot to worry about in terms of 'anymore worse news'. I'm not sure how many med school seats one politician can politically survive. The 10% is already quite dramatic in a province struggling to provide care to its residents.

 

I'm just glad that I am not the politician who had to make that decision!

[Telric]

They actually addressed this directly at both Calgary and Alberta. The seat decrease at Calgary was in response to the budget cuts, so I wouldn't anticipate any further reductions for this year.

 

At Alberta they mentioned that they have some funds left in a special account that they are going to use to keep the seats at the same level for this year. The seats will decrease the following year once that money is used.

 

Hope this helps allay some fears!

[surferdoc]

That is really interesting about the the U of A. I was really curious as to why they never had a seat reduction.

[Tacrolimus]

Apparently, tuition cannot be increased by more than ~1-1.5% each year so there's that. A lot of Arts programs are going to be cut too and in the end, education as a whole is going to suffer.

 

Also, medicine is tough to get into as it is right now...I don't even want to think about further cuts to the seats. Argh.

[oilcountry]

That is really interesting about the the U of A. I was really curious as to why they never had a seat reduction.

 

 

There will be 162 seats for next year (Class of 2018)

[rmorelan]

There will be 162 seats for next year (Class of 2018)

 

How big of a reduction is that?

[Hockeynut]

I believe they have 170 seats for the upcoming entering class.

 

edit: the 170 is the correct number so 8 fewer seats for the class of 2018 as compared to the class of 2017

[Tacrolimus]

There will be 162 seats for next year (Class of 2018)

 

Hopefully, these 8 cuts are out of OOP category.

[Vidhya]

Apparently, tuition cannot be increased by more than ~1-1.5% each year so there's that. A lot of Arts programs are going to be cut too and in the end, education as a whole is going to suffer.

 

Also, medicine is tough to get into as it is right now...I don't even want to think about further cuts to the seats. Argh.

 

Yeah tuition increases were capped so that they could not increase more than the rate of CPI each year. Students had lobbied for this about 7 or so years ago with the intent that if government was going to limit base funding increases across the board by 2% each year, they could not expect the students to take on a larger burden each year. The Alberta PC government has always said they view public education as a shared responsibility so it was a lobby directed at this viewpoint.

 

It worked well for the past 7 or so years to keep both funding levels and tuition increases reasonable. The cut this year though is pure stupidity. A freeze is one thing, but 10% decrease? These large institutions can't turn on a dime, it's like asking the Titanic to turn circles around an iceberg at full speed. Additionally what I dislike is that these Letters of Expectation ask institutions to evaluate which courses are less utilized in order to trim the fat. Are we now going to get into a situation where the government is going to dictate the individual merits of different subjects based on perceived usefulness or profitability? I would hate to be a philosophy department right now...

 

EDIT: I just found an interesting article posted today, good read on faculty perception: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Faculty+Athabasca+University+urge+administration+reject/8185168/story.html

[rmorelan]

is there some sort of funding crunch over there in general for Alberta? an effective drop of 9% from what was expected when many costs are actually fixed at a school is not an easy thing to absorb at all.

[peachaso]

is there some sort of funding crunch over there in general for Alberta? an effective drop of 9% from what was expected when many costs are actually fixed at a school is not an easy thing to absorb at all.

 

Apparently provincial revenue was lower than expectations. Combined with the desire of the PCs to appear to balance the budget sometime soon and their resistance to tax increases, they cut a lot. Unfortunately, this includes education and healthcare.

 

I can confirm that it's really tough on the universities. For example, I'm taking a language minor, and several classes are getting cut next year. 25% of the faculty and instructors that teach this language are getting laid off. Somewhat ironic that the Humanities are getting cut first given the Killam lecture (which was played up by the university) was on "The Purpose of the Humanities" but that's the way it goes...

[Telric]

Somewhat ironic that the Humanities are getting cut first given the Killam lecture (which was played up by the university) was on "The Purpose of the Humanities" but that's the way it goes...

 

Did they say the purpose was to insulate the other faculties from budget cuts?

[aaronjw]

Hopefully, these 8 cuts are out of OOP category.

 

and hopefully Ontario starts implementing OOP criteria of their own.

[Tacrolimus]

and hopefully Ontario starts implementing OOP criteria of their own.

 

I'm fine with that...

[lazyboy]

if you do the Math, up to 15% is allocated to OOP, I expect 1 person (1.2) from OOP and 7 from IP will be cut next year.

 

On a separate topics, I'm somewhat skeptical that U of A won't cut any class size this year. One has to remember whoever get accepted this year will be in U of A for at least 4 years, and the budget cut have to take into account of those four years. That is, they have to have 4 year funding for that student. If only 8 seats are cut next year (compared to 15 seats cut in U of C), they would have to have funding for those 15 seats this year and 7 seats next year they didn't cut. This does not take into account that U of A accept fewer students (166 to 170).

 

U of A is not as transparent as U of C (they don't have blog) and so they can do whatever is right when the decision is made. Let's hope I'm wrong....

[rmorelan]

and hopefully Ontario starts implementing OOP criteria of their own.

 

maybe, although there is often less interest here to do so - because the graduates often remain in Ontario. The OOP policies allow for Ontario to "steal" good students from other areas.

[surferdoc]

maybe, although there is often less interest here to do so - because the graduates often remain in Ontario. The OOP policies allow for Ontario to "steal" good students from other areas.

 

Agreed. I assume that is why UBC just opened up their doors to OOPs with their new IP defintion.

[Telric]

On a separate topics, I'm somewhat skeptical that U of A won't cut any class size this year. One has to remember whoever get accepted this year will be in U of A for at least 4 years, and the budget cut have to take into account of those four years. That is, they have to have 4 year funding for that student. If only 8 seats are cut next year (compared to 15 seats cut in U of C), they would have to have funding for those 15 seats this year and 7 seats next year they didn't cut. This does not take into account that U of A accept fewer students (166 to 170).

 

U of A is not as transparent as U of C (they don't have blog) and so they can do whatever is right when the decision is made. Let's hope I'm wrong....

 

During the presentation after interviews this year they explicitly stated that they would not be cutting the seats this year. This was coming directly from one of the Dean's and after they had been informed about the budget situation. I would expect that they are able to calculate the anticipated costs associated with the extra students throughout their education appropriately. I would not worry about seat cuts for the U of A this cycle.

[peachaso]

Did they say the purpose was to insulate the other faculties from budget cuts?

 

I actually don't know. It seems they are taking a "cut by stealth" approach since in the two town halls they didn't give any definite plans.

[Hyperalgesia]

I'm secretly hoping the radio silence on the part of the UofC staff means they're trying to get the interview invites out more quickly. One can dream!

[polarbear89]

That is the dream. It is so quiet and it helps feed the fear haha.

[Vidhya]

Talking about dreams, I had an awful one yesterday. I kept trying to call the admissions office to get an update about the invites and there was a notice on the phone saying "due to recent government cutbacks the admissions office has been laid off for one year to save money".

 

I then spent the rest of the dream running around trying to figure out what that meant for THIS year.

 

I hate dreams like that...

[CanOz]

Talking about dreams, I had an awful one yesterday. I kept trying to call the admissions office to get an update about the invites and there was a notice on the phone saying "due to recent government cutbacks the admissions office has been laid off for one year to save money".

 

I then spent the rest of the dream running around trying to figure out what that meant for THIS year.

 

I hate dreams like that...

 

You dream about budget cuts?

[Vidhya]

You dream about budget cuts?

 

 

Running around the empty Health Sciences building yelling "but who's going to do the invites!" "but who's going to handle the waitlist" "how will we know our final pre-interview scores" arhhhhhhhhhhh!

 

A nightmare of elephantine proportions.