Laurentian University’s Financial Struggle
Laurentian University, a school located in Sudbury, Ontario that offers bilingual studies, has almost 9000 undergraduates currently attending. Earlier this month, it also became the first publicly funded Ontario university to file for insolvency. When the statement was released that Laurentian University was filing for creditor protection, many questions arose as to how this happened. According to Financial Post, Laurentian has made several critical mistakes when managing its finances, such as failing to attract high-paying international students, overpaying its professors, and using 'questionable' accounting practices.
Like many Canadian universities (including Lakehead), Laurentian has shifted toward the recruitment of international students as a way to increase revenue while reduced government funding and decreased in-province tuitions fail to cover costs. Unfortunately, as a smaller university, Laurentian has struggled to recruit foreign students willing to pay their inflated international tuition fees. According to the Laurentian University site, international students pay around $27, 364 yearly, while Canadian residents pay just $6,685 (although exact tuition fees vary by program). “If Laurentian had increased its international enrolments at the same rate as other Ontario universities, it would have an extra 277 students, and another $7.8 million in gross revenue in 2018-19, as well as another $20 million or so in the bank from previous years”, Alex Usher of the consulting firm Higher Education Strategy Associates commented.
And what about the students? With budget cuts, many Ph.D. students have suffered funding cuts and research cuts that could put their educations on hold. CBC spoke to Ph.D. candidate Adam Kirkwood, who hasn’t heard anything from the university after finding out his research funding has vanished. After discovering that there is no money left for research grants, a fact which was not announced by the university, Kirkwood says he’s lost around $10,000 of his fellowship funding, according to CBC.
The Global News reports that financial struggles at Laurentian are nothing new, as it has deficits dating back to 2014, but that the University has a good chance of recovering with aid. The government has been called to action to help Laurentian out of the financial crisis, but they still must file for creditor protection.
https://laurentian.ca/fees-financing/undergraduate-tuition
https://thepienews.com/news/canada-laurentian-files-for-bankruptcy-after-intl-enrolments-falter/
https://financialpost.com/opinion/opinion-why-no-one-was-watching-the-books-at-laurentian-university
https://globalnews.ca/news/7640378/laurentian-university-deficits/#content