At its May meeting, the Board of Governors approved operating, ancillary, restricted, and capital budgets for 2024-25. The budgets were developed in consultation with a President's Advisory Committee which had representation from faculty, administration, and students. We also hosted a Budget Town Hall in March and the community had the opportunity to make submissions to the Committee.
The 2024-25 Operating Budget reflects our objectives to achieve a balanced budget while maintaining the quality of education and financial sustainability of the university and keeping tuition comparable with other universities in the region. It projects a deficit of $316K on revenues of $34.7M before a transfer from internally restricted funds to cover the shortfall.
Revenues include a Provincial Government operating grant increase of 2.6% and a 4% tuition increase in all programs. For the core Bachelor of Arts, this means a $331 increase for domestic students and $744 for international students. Student fees remain the same, except for the mental health fee which increases by $50.
Last year, STU had the fourth lowest domestic tuition and sixth lowest international tuition among 14 universities in the region. As well, we continue to provide up to $2.8M of financial support to students in the form of scholarships, bursaries, and awards.
Operating and Ancillary Budgets Highlights
- Operating Budget revenues are projected at $34.7M, which includes the operating grant from the Provincial Government ($13.9M to STU and $2.2M transfer to UNB) and tuition and fees ($16.4M). Additional revenues include external grants from government and other sources totaling $1.2M, government funding for contract positions of $1.1M, indirect research costs of $119K, fundraising, and miscellaneous.
- Academic expenses total $18.7M comprised primarily of salary and benefits at $17.7M. Administrative and general expenses total $6.1M with the main component being salaries and benefits of $3.8M.
- The Ancillary Services Budget, covering student residence and conference services, projects a surplus of $105K after principal payments on long-term debt of $445K. The prices for rooms will increase by 3%, while meal plans will increase by 10%.
The Budget Summary Report 2024-25, which has comprehensive information on each budget, may be found here, while tuition and fee information may be found here.
