On March 3, The Varsity reported that undergraduate students are subsidizing professional faculties through a budget mechanism called the University Fund. All undergraduate-heavy divisions are net contributors to the fund, with utsc losing the equivalent of 9.72 per cent of its academic expense budget to underfunded professional programs. All professional faculties, except the Faculties of Pharmacy, Management, Applied Science & Engineering, and Kineseology & Physical Education are net-recipients. While I support these subsidies in principle, I believe that provincial funding should be increased to replace them.
TIMOTHY LAW/THE VARSITY
This revelation should not shock anyone. Redistribution of resources is common in other federations. Take Canada’s federal government for example: Ontario contributes to the budget of more cash-strapped provinces every year through the equalization payments budgetary mechanism. In 2002, the federal government collected $81.1 billion from Ontario, and only spent $59.9 billion in the province. When you add the $66.5 billion in revenue that the provincial government collected that year, Ontario lost 14 per cent of its expense budget through equalization transfers.
In many ways, these subsidies benefit undergraduate students as well. Some professional faculties — such as music, architecture, and the Transitional Year Programme — also directly operate undergraduate programs. Others, such as the Faculty of Law, have professors teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Finally, U of T’s overall ranking definitely receives a boost from the university’s professional faculties. Many of them — such as medicine, law, dentistry and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) — rank among the best in the world.
All things considered, undergraduate students are still the losers here. However, professional faculties have benefits far beyond our campus. According to a report produced by the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK, governments gain net tax revenue of £255,045 from educating a doctor, £171,712 from educating a lawyer, and £155,104 from educating an engineer.
Indeed, our provincial government clearly wants more doctors, dentists and phds. It has created the Opportunities Ontario: Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), which removes the job offer requirement for permanent residency to encourage graduate students to stay in the province after their studies.
For all its recognition of the benefits of graduate education, the provincial government doesn’t actually want to pay for it. After adjusting for inflation, the per-student funding in the province has decreased by more than $3,000 in the past 30 years. It is now $7,024, $1,049 less than the national average.
It is both commonly accepted and beneficial to subsidize professional faculties with undergraduate fees. However, given that the province as a whole has a lot more to gain from strong professional and graduate programs than it does from just undergraduate students, the provincial government should recognize the actual costs of maintaining professional faculties, and increase its financial support.
Li Pan is a second-year student at Trinity College studying mathematics and economics.
