Photo: TRU

Thompson Rivers University’s board of governors will be tasked with approving next year’s budget later this week, and officials say planned cuts to balance the university’s books won’t be getting any easier in future years.

The proposed budget includes a planned $299.8 million in revenue and $306.6 million in expenditures — and that’s after $13.4 million in reduction strategies.

Reduction strategies include a five per cent across-the-board cut, the removal of the Westgate residences, reductions in international agent commissions, and the addition of credit card convenience fees, among other measures.

“I’m actually quite pleased with the amount of work that we’ve done,” said Matt Milovick, VP of finance and administration.

The remaining approximate $6.9 million will be covered by a vacancy discount, which applies the average number of vacancies over the last five years to this year’s budget to reduce expenses.

Milovick said he was optimistic the remaining $6.9 million in reductions would be found elsewhere this year, meaning the vacancy discount wouldn’t be held over outgoing years.

He said sessional faculty costs this year have decreased by about $2 million, and further reductions are expected in the next academic year.

About $39 million in capital spending is planned for next year’s budget, mostly using funds from previous surplus restrictions.

This includes $31.5 million for the Indigenous Education Centre and Low Carbon District Energy System, $5.8 million for small capital projects, $1.1 million for IT projects and $675,000 for ancillary projects.

“This is a minimal capital investment, in my opinion, for institutions of our size,” Milovick said. “That’s nowhere near enough, but it is what we have.”

A five-year plan

As of last month, international enrolment on the Kamloops campus was down 19 per cent, and new international enrolment had plummeted by 59 per cent.

TRU provost Gillian Balfour told the university’s senate Monday that domestic applications were up 25 per cent for next fall, but summer intake was down 35 per cent.

“The challenge here is moving from application to registration, this infamous conversion pipeline that we need to tackle,” Balfour said.

With open learning enrolment increasing, she said TRU will need to take advantage of “what seems to be an area of enrolment growth.”

Balfour said the university was fairly confident there will be no change to the provincial funding model and TRU will need to adapt to “this very different international student market” with new programs.

“The strategy based on all of this is a five year plan that will require pan institutional response. All teams, both academic and administrative, will need to recognize their role in deficit mitigation, refining the university’s focus,” she said.

“We are coming into this conversation with low operating reserves, and that's a problem that is being addressed in our budget methodology.”

More cuts to come

If the budget is approved, an estimated $9.6 million in further reductions will be needed in the 2026-27 academic year. A total of $36.3 million in additional reductions are estimated through 2029-30, or roughly three per cent of the budget per year.

“Those are still big numbers and the easy stuff has been done,” Milovick said.

Balfour said this year’s budget is only able to be balanced thanks to the vacancy discount, and while it isn’t a strategy TRU will be able to use again, there “is a way forward here.”

“It is the next four years of recognizing both stimulating that revenue generation through program creation and innovation, but also recognizing where efficiencies can be found,” she said.

"We will be doing less in the capital space, because we need to prioritize our operating revenues going forward."

She said TRU is using 2017-18 enrolment levels as a “benchmark” to align its spending patterns and priorities.

“Because that’s the size of the institution that we’re headed to become in the next few years,” Balfour said.

The 2025-26 proposed budget will be presented to TRU's board of governors on Friday with the hope of approval.

"I say hope because this is the first budget that this board, and a few boards previously, have received that predict a significant deficit in the coming years," Balfour said.