Brandon University faces financial challenges, including a $9.6 million structural deficit, primarily due to impacts of COVID-19 and reduced student numbers, BU president says David Docherty.

“It’s not an annual deficit,” Docherty said, “it’s debt we owe to ourselves, not money we owe to the banks and that’s an important distinction.

“Part of that $9.6 million was lost revenue during Covid when students weren’t coming and the residence was losing money. So we had a surplus of money that we were spending, but it was stopping us from doing other things,” Docherty said.

Docherty spoke to the Sun during a break at this month’s Board of Governors meeting, held at the university Saturday morning. This was the last meeting of the year, with the next meeting scheduled for January 25, 2025.

The meeting included numerous reports, including those submitted by the BU Foundation, the Senate, the Students’ Union and the Finance Committee.

Peter Hickey is Vice President, Administration and Finance and a newcomer to Brandon. He started his studies at the university on September 1, 2024.

In his financial report, Hickey outlined what he sees as five key challenges for BU. The structural deficit of $9.6 million ranked first, followed by the need to find a new software system for staff and students.

Additionally, Hickey said that due to years of successive budget cuts and failure to replace retiring staff, there are “critical administrative deficiencies” on campus.

Under health and safety, several areas of campus were stated to require security camera upgrades, “based on BU’s commitment to providing a safe environment,” Hickey wrote.

Examples of physical plant project updates in the Hickey report included a new gymnasium floor in the Health Living Center.

Another priority item for BU is the renovation of the Brodie Science Building and construction of a new research annex that will house a satellite campus of the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine.

In addition to the Hickey report, he submitted two budget forecasts, one for 2025-2026 and another for three years, until 2028, at the request of the provincial government.

“These budget estimates are the first step in the budget process,” Hickey said. “We need to clearly show the province that we have these needs and that we will see spending increase.

“So, this year, only the 2025-2026 budget is finalized, but for the first time, the government asked for a three-year outlook, because it committed over three years to increase the budget by 1.5 percent . grants, as well as imposing a maximum of 3.5 percent on tuition for three years,” Hickey said.

In May 2024, Prime Minister Wab Kinew announced $7.4 million in funding for UB, beyond what was promised in this year’s budget, presented a month earlier in April.

While Docherty told The Sun he was grateful for the extra cash injection, he said “we’ve also gone through years where it hasn’t kept up with inflation”.

“Thanks to COVID, we received a 0% grant, but student numbers were dropping, inflation was skyrocketing and we weren’t filling the residence halls,” Docherty said.

Included in the Registrar’s Office registration report, overall enrollment is down 2.7 percent from the same point last year.

The number of Indigenous students is up 4.4 per cent from last year. There is a slight decrease in the number of non-Indigenous domestic students of 1.2 percent. But the biggest loss was among international students, with a decrease of 15.2 percent.

“International has been the real success,” Docherty said. “Yes, we have fewer students who have higher needs, but if we can meet those needs, they will stay longer, they will stay four or five years and graduate. If we don’t treat them, they will go away after a year, and that’s when the losses occur.

So if we can invest in a few student advisors, which we’ve talked about with the province and agreed to, we hope our retention of those students will be stronger,” Docherty said.

“The university is aware of our challenges, as is the province, and we do not take them lightly, and this is part of the process of addressing them.

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