COU Statement: Response to Fall Economic Statement

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Financial Sustainability

COU Statement: Response to Fall Economic Statement

TORONTO, October 30, 2024 – “With a shared goal to rebuild Ontario’s economy and boost prosperity throughout Ontario’s regions, Ontario’s universities have a critical role to play in helping the government implement its plan to build.

The investments in advancing health care through health human resources and life sciences reiterated in today’s Fall Economic Statement will help ensure the province has the highly skilled health talent it needs to increase access to critical health-care services for Ontarians.

Beyond supporting the health-care talent pipeline, Ontario’s universities are also training the engineers, planners and innovators needed to build critical infrastructure, roads, highways and public transportation. They are graduating the doctors, nurses and medical researchers who will help address shortages and find life-saving treatments. And they are spurring the innovation that will advance Ontario’s leadership in nuclear energy, life sciences and advanced manufacturing.

However, the sustainability of Ontario’s plan to build is increasingly challenged, as universities continue to face mounting financial pressures that threaten their ability to deliver on our shared mission.

Recent federal changes to international study permits are currently estimated to have a nearly $1-billion financial loss for the sector in the first two years alone. These changes are on top of declining provincial real operating grants since 2006-07 and an eight-year freeze on domestic tuition, creating an increasingly untenable financial situation for Ontario’s universities.

Even with the provincial government’s funding announcement last February, 10 universities are still facing more than $300 million in deficits in 2023-24, which are only expected to grow.

The university sector is at a critical juncture, and without additional support, Ontario risks not having the vital talent and research needed to foster economic growth and prosperity.

We will continue to work with the province to build on their efforts earlier this year to enhance the financial sustainability of Ontario universities during upcoming discussions on new five-year funding agreements for 2025-30. 

By boosting base operating funding and fully funding enrolment growth so that more Ontario high school students can attend an Ontario university will help ensure the province has the talent and innovation needed to grow our economy.

The time to address the long-term sustainability of Ontario’s universities to help build Ontario’s future is now.”

 – The Council of Ontario Universities

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