Memorial University is one of the highest publicly-funded universities in the country. That’s according to Education Minister Tom Osborne who was responding to the phasing out of government tuition offsets to MUN over the next five years.
Memorial last week announced that it is raising tuition to make up for lost tuition offsets, but those increases still don’t address rising university costs including millions of dollars in deferred maintenance.
Government currently funds Memorial’s operating budget up to 76 per cent but the recent provincial budget outlined government’s plan to make the university fully autonomous within the next five years.
Osborne says at the end of the process, Newfoundland and Labrador taxpayers will still be providing 60 per cent of the university’s operating budget, more than the national average of 45 per cent.
“This whole process is giving them the full autonomy that they’re asking for,” says Osborne. The Auditor General will also have “unfettered access” to determine whether spending at the university is appropriate, while Memorial will also appear before the House of Assembly Estimates Committee to provide a line-by-line review of their budget.
