After announcing targeted tuition increases in early March, Portage College has released more capital saving measures that include layoffs, program cancelations and keeping positions vacant.
“Despite what might seem like small numbers compared to others in the news, these are tough times for the College,” said Nancy Broadbent, President and CEO of Portage College.
Portage is facing a 4.2 per cent cut to their Campus Alberta Grant (CAG), which is provided by the provincial government to channel funds into post-secondary operating budgets.
Every year, publicly funded institutions such as Portage, Keyano College and Grand Prairie Regional College, rely on these funds for day-to-day operations. The CAG grant is calculated as part of government’s annual budgetary process and is in constant flux depending on political will.
Provincial funding to this grant program has been steadily decreasing since 2019, dipping lower than funding received by the institution nearly a decade ago under the former Progressive Conservative government.
This year, Portage will receive nearly $700,000 less than it did in 2013.
Portage College has been operating under austerity measures since 2019, before the pandemic began. Leaving students to shoulder some of the growing costs of that institutions are facing.
Tonia Harvie a prospective student from Cold Lake, is preparing to transition into Portage College’s Practical Nurse Diploma.
After upgrading through another institution to save money, Harvie said she became frustrated when trying to plan the next steps of her academic career at Portage.
“I am waiting to know what this year's fees will be,” Harvie said. When she initially approached administrators to find the price for the College’s nursing program, she didn’t receive a clear answer.
On March 4, Portage announced increases to fees for selected programs by up to seven per cent for the upcoming 2021 to 2022 academic year. With plans to increase another seven per cent the following year to align with government policy.
Currently, it is not known which programs will see increases to tuition.
“Education is very important to me. Wanting to better yourself is hard when it feels like you can't afford it because costs keep changing,” says Harvie.
Program cuts
To begin May however, clear decisions were made by the College as it announced the suspension of three programs: Heavy Equipment Operator, Pre-Employment Heavy Equipment Technician and Accounting Technician.
President Broadbent says, “In planning our tuition increases, College (administration) were selective in the programs to be increased. Program by program we have set the increase to protect the most vulnerable learners... In addition, we also minimized the increase to programs where graduates will obtain entry level careers.”
Harvie, a mother of two with a third on the way, says she feels let down by the entire system.
“It’s very discouraging when you are trying to contribute and make a difference and the system and the government are failing you.”
With bare-bone operating budgets college officials have been forced to answer a difficult problem with a difficult solution.
As a result of the program reductions, Portage says two and a half full-time equivalent jobs have been cut, and just shy of five full-time positions have been left empty. Three employees have been made redundant.
“As a small institution we are closely connected to our colleagues and as such releasing people from their jobs is a difficult decision,” Broadbent says.
“This takes a tremendous toll on our people both those being let go and those staying on with the loss of colleagues and increased workloads.”
Paving new paths
Portage College and other academic institutions are creating adaptive business models to offset future financial uncertainties and plan for long-term projects.
Broadbent says the college is looking for unique ways to generate revenue from current assets.
Recently, Portage College successfully fundraised $15,000 through a raffle allowing the College to retrofit an area of the Lac La Biche campus creating a cultural space for students and staff.
“Our organization’s business model will need to continue to change as needed,” Broadbent noted.
Shrinking operating budgets have become familiar talking points among post-secondary boards province-wide as they face a political culture-shift from government funded models to a business-planning model, according to a 2005 academic article looking at the financial legacy of previous Alberta governments.
In the announcement reporting Portage’s program cancelations and layoffs, the college’s Vice President Academic Guy Gervais, included, “The College is happy to partner with industry, communities and other post-secondary institutions to offer the best possible education and program selection in as cost-efficient a manner as possible.”
COVID enrolment dip
While some programs offered at the college have maintained and increased enrolment, Broadbent says that overall, Portage has seen a 10 per cent drop in new student enrolment during the pandemic. Another unforeseen result of COVID-19.
Broadbent is optimistic that with an anticipated return to face-to-face learning next fall, Portage will see an increase to pre-COVID levels with more Albertans deciding “to return to post-secondary to upskill and reskill.”
