Information Note
Reminder
Following the April 7, 2014 general election, the newly elected government will submit a new Quebec budget for 2014-2015.
During the pre-budgetary consultations, the FEUQ met with the Minister of Finance's team to discuss, particularly, a reinvestment in higher education. During the May 7, 2014 meeting, the Minister's cabinet members and public functionaries explained that education would not be subject to cuts from the 2013-2014 amounts (unlike the other budgetary envelopes). We should nevertheless expect a decrease in the reinvestment promised by the previous government at the Summit on Higher Education in February 2013.
2014-2015 Budget
The budget was submitted on June 5, 2014. During the media and social group closed session, the FEUQ was present to analyze the minister's propositions for higher education. Note that this budget was submitted with the ministries' budgetary credits.
The biggest question mark is clearly explained by the President of the Treasury Council. Explaining his approach to the budget, he suggested a "questioning of some spending initiatives" (Treasury Council, 2014B, p. 16). It was further explained that there would be a "revision of the previous government's promises made during the [...] Summit on higher education" (Treasury Council, 2014B, p. 16).
First, below is a current overview of higher education funding from the Quebec government, as described in the documents submitted for the budget.
Table 1: Funding from the Government of Quebec Universities (in $ thousands) (author's calculations)
2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015
Charest government $ 2,960,000 $ 3,008,000 $ 3,044,000 $ 3,165,000
Government Marois $ 2,976,378 $ 3,074,687 $ 3,337,000
Government Couillard $ 3,216,420
Sources: (Treasury Board, 2012a, p 100, 2012b, p 106; Treasury Board, 2014A, 119, Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, 2013... p 5;. Ministry of Finance, 2011, p 15, 2014, p..B.48)
As can be seen, the portrait of university funding has changed in the last four years. In particular, note the total absence of the reinvestments that were agreed to at the Summit on Higher Education for the current financial year, which works out to a decrease of $120 million from the previous government's funding projections for 2014-15. This can have a significant impact on universities' abilities to meet their goals, particularly for teaching quality, but also for student services.
Unlike the message conveyed by some universities, (Pion, 2014), these are not further cuts, but rather a re-evaluation of the previous government's promises. We can also note that the amount of government funding for universities is higher than that of the Charest government. This is, however, partly due to the cancellation of the 2012 tuition fee hike, as the Charest government planned on increasing students’ contribution to university financing. In any case, the amounts put forth by universities (Pion, 2014) do not seem credible in light of the following numbers.
Table 2: Student contribution to universities (in thousands of $) (author's calculations)
2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015
Charest government $ 750,000 $ 799,000 $ 854,000 $ 902,000
Government Marois $ 750,000 $ 769,500 $ 792,585
Government Couillard $ 792,585
Source: (Ministry of Finance, 2011, p 15.)
Table 2 shows the evolution of the student contribution to universities. For the last two governments, the calculations do not take into account the expected increase in student enrolment, and the indexation rate for 2014-2015 was estimated at 3% compared to 2013-2014.
Figure 1: Forecast of Québec University Funding from the Government and from students for 2014-2015 (Dark – Government funding, Light – Student contribution)
For the current financial year (2014-15), we arrive at a total of $4.009 billion (including government funding and student contributions) with the current government, though it would have been $4.129 billion with the previous government, and $4.067 billion with the Charest government. There has indeed been a substantial decrease from the forecasts following the Summit on Higher Education and the budget submitted in June 2014. This decline in financing is nevertheless much lower when compared with the funding foreseen by the Charest government in the 2011-12 budget, a $58 million decrease. This cannot
Conclusion
As explained by the Finance Minister, the budget serves as a transitional budget before a study on social programs and the Québec tax system. The two commissions will take place this fall, and will draw their conclusion for the government's 2015-16 budget. In this respect, the FEUQ must now begin discussions with politicians to make sure the funding promised at the Summit on Higher Education sees the light of day and refinance the university network. But this reinvestment should not become a blank check for university administrations. In this sense, it is more than necessary to put into function the National Council of Universities, to operationalize it, and to work a new university financing policy.
Bibliography
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Conseil du Trésor. (2014b). Rigueur et responsabilité dans la gestion des dépenses.
Québec: Quebec Government. Accessed at
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