The Government of Alberta has released its 2025 budget. For Advanced Education, the budget outlines an estimated operating expense of $6.6B; this marks a $323M increase over the previous year, though AB states that this increased expense is “more than offset” by the increase in institutional own-source revenue such as tuition fees. For 2025-26, own-source revenue constitutes 58% of 2025-26 postsecondary institution operating expense. Funding has been increased for independent academic institutions (additional $9M in 2025-26, plus $17M in subsequent two years), the First Nations Colleges Grant (additional $0.5M annually), and the Alberta Student Grant (additional $5M annually). AB is also budgeting for a continued investment of $187M for advanced education under the capital plan, as well as $170M for capital projects through the Skills for Jobs program.
