The university is offering conflicting messages on how it will adjust to recent guidelines introduced by Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Brad Duguid in early December.
In a December interview with The Globe and Mail, U of T president Meric Gertler said that the changes to the flat fee system will eventually cost the university $16 million annually. The latest available financial information from the Faculty of Arts & Science, from 2010, shows that the faculty has an accumulated deficit of over $60 million.
According to provost Cheryl Regehr, the $16 million figure remains the best estimate that the university has. “Actual revenue loss will not likely be determined until November 2014, when we have a final enrolment count for the coming academic year,” Regehr said.
“Any loss in revenue will require a corresponding reduction in expenses,” Regehr continued. “When [financial] resources are diminished, there will necessarily be an impact on the university’s operations.”
Gertler maintained that undergraduate education would likely be unaffected by the new guidelines. “I can say that we would do everything we can to protect the gains that we have made in regards to undergraduate education,” said Gertler. “We would be very reluctant to see any kind of backsliding or loss of programs with regards to what we have been able to achieve in the classroom and the gains that we have been able to make in regards to the student experience.”
“We’re certainly not keen to expand the size of already large classes,” Gertler continued. “If anything, we’d like to reduce the size of tutorial groups, we’d like to offer more tutorial groups, we’d like to offer more small class experiences for students.”
Regehr offered a different account, hinting that the Faculty of Arts & Science, in particular, would be significantly impacted by the guidelines, which change the faculty’s program fee structure. “The program fee enabled the Faculty of Arts & Science to create opportunities for undergraduates to participate in more research projects, small-group learning, and international experiences and increasing the number of tutorial groups,” Regehr said.
Regehr also noted that the loss in revenue would likely impact student aid. According to the 1998 Governing Council policy on accessibility, “No student offered admission to a program at the University of Toronto should be unable to enter or complete the program due to lack of financial means.” During the 2011-2012 academic year, 45 per cent of U of T undergraduate students received support through the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). Of these, 38 per cent received additional financial support from U of T. On average, students receiving OSAP pay only 48 per cent of the tuition “sticker price.”
According to Zakary Paget, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, the Government of Ontario has increased funding to universities by $2.2 billion — or 82 per cent — over the past ten years. Provincial funding increases largely reflect increases in enrolment. At U of T, annual funding currently stands at $652 million — an increase of nearly 70 per cent over the past 10 years.
Regehr asserts that this level of per-student funding is still very low. “Per-student funding in Ontario trails behind all other provinces in Canada and is among the very lowest in North America,” she said. “Compared to inflation, the per-student funding that the university receives from the province has not increased for 17 years.” Last year, the university’s per-student funding from the province actually decreased by two per cent.
Still, Paget maintains: “As autonomous institutions, we expect that schools will manage their financial health in an efficient manner.” Paget also emphasized that the new guidelines will align U of T’s fee structure with those of other universities. Of the 22 post-secondary institutions in Ontario, nine charge flat fees and five of those have a threshold lower than 80 per cent of a full course load. Currently, U of T is the only postsecondary institution in Ontario that charges flat fees at the threshold of 3.0 course credits. “This decision was made to create consistency across the system,” Paget noted.
Regehr also addressed the issue of per-semester billing. In accordance with the guidelines released by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, post-secondary institutions are required to implement per-semester billing by the 2014—2015 academic year, although institutions are permitted to apply for an exception. In the past, York University and the University of Waterloo have voluntarily implemented per-semester billing.
According to Regehr, “The University is actively exploring the avenues for implementing per-term billing by the fall of 2014, but has yet to determine an exact date.” Regehr noted that U of T’s student information system and the size of its student body make the transition to per-semester billing more challenging to achieve quickly.
The new regulations phase out U of T’s policy of charging full tuition to students who take as few as three courses, known as flat fees. The new guidelines, introduced on December 5, 2013 also eliminate interest fees incurred because of OSAP’s distribution schedule, mandate two payment periods for tuition, and regulate the types of late and ancillary fees that can be charged.
Ontario maintains that it is committed to working with the education sector to implement the recent changes. However, Paget noted, “Institutions will be asked to implement these changes within their current funding allocations.”
