Dalhousie University is preparing to raise tuition, again

For the seventh year in a row, Dalhousie University plans to raise the tuition fees it charges students. The three per cent increase is the maximum the province allows universities to charge and still receive a one per cent increase in their annual operating grant from the government. An本科系的学生（第7页）在达尔豪西（Dalhousie）已经支付每年8,939美元，这是该国最高的学费。我们是第一！

Undergraduate students who grew up in Nova Scotia pay $7,606, thanks to a provincial bursary aimed at keeping more locals from scuttling to Memorial University in Newfoundland or McGill University in Montreal, where tuition costs are substantially less. International students from out-of-country pay more than double other Dal students — $19,153.06 a year to enrol in a Bachelor of Arts — although most choose to enrol in programs such as computer Science, engineering, and science. Students in dentistry, law, and medical schools, where training costs are higher, could see even bigger tuition hikes.

去年达尔豪西大学的运营预算为4.286亿美元。这是整个哈利法克斯地区市政当局的成本一半以上。在对省经济的影响方面，达尔的行为更像是城市，而不是大学。近19,000名学生参加了13个学位课程，分布在四个大型校园上。自2009年法院案件废除了强制性退休以来，近1,000名教授就职，他们可以停留在他们想要的时间内。在某些学院，该部门的预算中有90％用于薪水和养老金。

Overall, financial compensation negotiated for the thousands of people who work at “Dal City” accounts for 74 per cent of the university’s total expenses. Administration costs appear to be running at just above six per cent, slightly below other Canadian universities of comparable size, although that Statistics Canada information is a couple of years old.

如2019 - 2020年初步预算文件中所描述的那样，达尔的持续问题是“预计运营成本以比预期的收入更快的速度增加”。达尔首席财务官伊恩·纳森（Ian Nason）估计，运营成本每年增长3％至4％；大部分是由于协商员工的薪水和养老金以及与维护，设备，IT和公用事业成本相关的其余部分。（一位参与者说，数据中心的地下室有水，这可能是不应该等待的）。

Although Dalhousie University attracts more than $156 million in research funding and can boast 91 Rhodes Scholars, none of that can be touched to pay the light bill. Last year, the university chose to balance the budget by ordering faculties and departments to cut their budgets by 1.5 per cent, while demanding students pay three per cent more for their education.

The University has three sources of operating revenue: endowments holding steady at about 10 per cent, the provincial grant which accounts for 50 per cent (down from 56 per cent eight years ago) and student tuition which now accounts for 40 per cent of operating money, (up from 34 per cent eight years ago).

在昨天的泰瑞巴尔斯主持的论坛,公关ovost and chair of the Budget Advisory Committee, Balser noted that the MOU agreement between the universities and the provincial government expires at the end of March. That agreement has provided one per cent increases in the operating grant each year for the past five years. The agreement followed a three-year period during which university budgets were slashed by 10 per cent. Balser told the small audience “we are hopeful annual increases will go a bit higher” but with those top secret negotiations still underway, universities can’t count on more than the status quo. The preliminary budget report says “Continued advocacy for improved grant support is critical to fund University operations”.

Without that, Provost Balser told the group, “We are stuck with tuition as the only place we can bring in more money.”

Tuition increases raise revenue but also risk killing the goose that lays the golden eggs — higher enrolment. Since 2010, Dal has added 2,433 new international students. Twenty-two per cent of all students now come from outside Canada, with China and India sending the most students. Faculties such as Computer Science are “bursting at the seams” and about to hire half a dozen additional professors to meet the growing demand; enrolment in the School of Engineering and B.Sc programs are also increasing thanks to an influx of international students.

Since 2014, Dalhousie has seen a 40 per cent growth in international students. Even though the university charges these students twice as much as other Dal students, the fees to come to Dal are still $8,000-$9,000 a year below the average that comparable Canadian universities charge, according to Statistics Canada data from two years ago.

参加DAL的加拿大学生人数保持稳定。国际学生的涌入意味着在过去十年中，加拿大人的比例从89％下降到78％。加拿大人口趋势显示，年轻人越来越少，并且将从高中毕业，这增加了大学之间竞争以取代席位的竞争。

安大略省一直是将最多的学生送入达尔的省，参加预算讨论的人认为，总理道格·福特（Doug Ford）宣布的10％的学费将导致安大略省的学生更少来到东部。昨天在预算论坛上的谈话建议“多样化”招聘工作，以减少对安大略省和中国作为更多学生的来源的依赖。

Some at the session see boosting enrolment as a double-edged sword, questioning whether popular programs such as engineering and computer science should have their enrolment capped or limited. They note that these programs, which attract a high proportion of international students, are at a point where more must be spent to hire teaching assistants, professors, and language and counselling services to ensure students receive value for money. Other options might include expanding these popular programs and closing programs where enrolment is declining.

在削减成本方面，论坛的参与者建议该大学使用专门用于短期项目或“战略计划”的几百万美元，向教授提供收购，以便退休。缩减达尔豪西（Dalhousie）的终身教师的数量或用更新的，较便宜的教授代替老年人是一个明显的削减成本选择，但没有一个进行任何认真或持续的讨论。