Ryerson will host a number of town halls to get feedback from the university community about where budget cuts should happen for the 2019-20 academic year.
The meetings are planned for Feb. 11, 13 and 25 in various locations on campus. Michael Benarroch, provost and vice-president, academic, will be leading the budget planning process, according to the university’s website dedicated to the topic.
The university’s budget outlines how the institution will spend money over an entire fiscal year, which runs from May 1 to April 30. It includes estimates of revenue and expenditures, allocation of resources and ultimately aims to provide the community with accountability for how their money is being spent.
Ryerson will be dealing with an “increasingly challenging” fiscal environment in the upcoming years, the website says. That’s a reference to the provincial government announcement last month that it will cut tuition fees, which are a major source of revenue for the university, by 10 per cent. The provincial government is also removing funding that covers inflation increases.
The budget is projected to be finalized in March and approved by president Mohamed Lachemi and Ryerson’s board of governors in April. The new budget will be implemented in May 2019.
Ryerson’s faculties will have to make millions of dollars in cuts over the next two years. In an interview this week with the Ryersonian, Charles Falzon, dean of the Faculty of Communication and Design, said the cuts are likely to mean fewer courses will be offered. He also said part-time instructors’ hours will be reduced.