LAKELAND - Tempered disappointment. That's how Portage College President and CEO Nancy Broadbent described her reaction to last Thursday afternoon's provincial budget announcement.
On the heels of last year's provincial budget that stripped a million dollars from the post secondary institution, the forecast for 2021 could see another $900,000 reduced from provincial funding the college relies on to operate its campus locations across northeastern Alberta.
While job losses or reduced service levels can be part of any plan where efficiencies have to be found, Broadbent says college officials are hoping to avoid that. She says a number of other areas will be examined, like not filling current vacant positions, or through attrition.
"We will continue to do everything we can so we aren't harming the person," she said, referring to both staff and students populations, calling the efforts of both over the last year of funding and pandemic challenges "truly resilient."
"We have been asking people to take on more, to step out of comfort zones, to learn differently — and we've had really great support from all of our people," Broadbent said.
Although concerned with the reduced funding, Broadbent takes some solace that this year's reduction wasn't as bad as it could have been.
Planning for their own 2020-21 and 2021-22 budgets, the college's financial team was expecting reductions to their $21.69 million base operating grant from the province. Their own planners anticipated cuts this year to be as high as five and a half per cent or as low as three and a half percent. What came out from the budget was a reduction of 4.2 per cent. Planning for cuts is something Portage College officials have been forced to do. Two years ago, college financial planners created a three-year window of what they expected from provincial funding.
"Unfortunately, all three years were for reductions," Broadbent said, again trying to find a silver lining. "At lest we knew what was coming."
Over the last two years, Portage has lost more than $1.9 million in base operating funding from the province.
The fallout from this year's funding reductions will have to be explored further by college administrators and the institution's board of governors. A proposed budget for the college is expected to cross the desks of the board in April.
Broadbent said that despite the reductions in base funding, the document presented to the board hopefully won't see drastic changes — and will also serve as a testament to the grit that staff and students continue to show.
"I think one thing that COVID has taught us is that with all the changes we have made, we can weather this funding issue as well," she said.
Although reduced funding was a large part of the recent provincial budget announcement, some areas of the college's operations across the region and across its digital channels received positive news. Mental health funding to post-secondary students will continue from the province at previous levels, as well as support funding for students with disabilities. Portage will also see an increase of funding for infrastructure and maintenance projects across its campus locations. Another unexpected highlight from COVID restrictions is the success of many online programs and integration with regional businesses and industry. Broadbent says there has been continued and growing support from regional business partners to take on students for practicum and training. The college boss says more than half of Portage's current rollout of programs have work-integrated components, so online teaching means students can learn the theory part of their learning online and work with regional partners for their practical part.
"We've had great support from our communities and our businesses and from our own alumni who continue to contribute to our successes," Broadbent said. "We know that support will help to carry us through some of the challenging times."
System of schools faces cuts
Portage College officials and the other 26 post-secondary institutions that make up the Campus Alberta network are continuing to discuss the effects of this year's provincial budget announcement. Broadbent sees many of the challenges facing Portage staff and students across the region happening across the province in all institutions.
Dr. Mike Mahon, the chairperson of the Council for Post Secondary Presidents of Alberta (COPPOA) said the overall cut to funding Alberta's post-secondary institutions averaged a 6.2 per cent. Coming a year after a 10 per cent cut, he said the big concern continues to be uncertainty of year over year funding instability.
“Predictable and sustainable funding is necessary to allow all institutions to make the impacts that are necessary for student success and for the collective communities we serve," he said following Thursday's budget announcement.
Mahon went on to say that the latest cuts will transfer more financial responsibility onto the backs of students, affecting the livelihoods of all Albertans trying to retrain or find employable skills in a challenging marketplace. Despite the cuts, Mahon says institutions continue to work closely with provincial officials to find workforce and economic solutions.
“Alberta’s post-secondary institutions are positioned to work with the Province to support economic recovery, future growth in employment and economic diversification,” he said. “Our members understand the challenging fiscal circumstances Albertans are facing including a global pandemic and an economic downturn. We are committed to work with the Province over the next year through initiatives pertaining to job growth that support an effective economic recovery."
In the Lakeland area, Portage College serves students at campus locations in Lac La Biche, Cold Lake, St. Paul and Boyle. Satellite campus locations are found in at the Saddle Lake Cree Nation, as well as the Whitefish Lake First Nation and Frog Lake First Nation. The college offers more than 30 certificate and diploma programs as well as a number of industry-tailored specific programming and community courses. Across its locations and through its virtual classes, Portage has approximately 1,000 full-time students and more than 1,500 part-time or casual students.
