Financial trends for universities during the pandemic: Editorial

In a recent editorial for University Affairs, Sparrow McGowan discusses a recent Statistics Canada report on universities’ record surplus revenues of $7.3B in 2020-21. The surplus was largely attributed to $5.4B in investment income, and the report noted that universities are continuing to rely heavily on tuition revenue, particularly international student tuition. The Canadian Federation of Students National Treasurer Riaz Nandan has stated that the surplus should go into student services such as food banks and mental health. McGowan also reports that universities cut their expenditures by 3.8% in 2020-21, largely through salary and benefits decreases for non-academic, part-time academic, and contract academic staff. University Affairs Note: Archived stories may contain dead links or be missing source links.