The Council of Ontario Universities (COU) has released a statement marking the one-year anniversary of the release of its Government of Ontario Blue-Ribbon Panel’s report. COU acknowledged ON’s $1.3B investment into the sector in February, but noted that this funding is time-limited and does not keep pace with inflation. Additionally, COU noted that this funding makes up less than a third of what the panel recommended in operating revenue increases. As a result, even with this funding, COU noted that 10 of the province’s universities are reporting more than $300M in deficits for 2023-24 and will be under additional pressure as the federal changes to international study permits reduce revenue. COU says that the current funding cap puts up to 100,000 high school students in ON at risk of not being able to attend a program of their choice.
