Michelle Salo

The president of Confederation College is offering her appreciation to the provincial funding increase announced last week.

Ontario’s colleges are to get increases starting this fall.

The exact amount of money Confederation College will receive is not immediately known.

Michelle Salo says it should help avoid budget deficits that have been projected for this year and next.

“This fiscal year will end in a deficit, and next year was going to be a large deficit, which would be almost impossible to try and balance based on our current cost structure and all the efficiencies that we’ve already implemented as a college,” says Salo.

“So this additional funding really helps us to be able to manage a budget that’s a potential deficit that’s much more reasonable and something that we can work towards.”

Last year, the college cut several programs.

Salo says the new funding would not have saved those programs because the moves were done in response to the federal government’s cap on foreign students.

“Unfortunately, the current funding won’t reverse any of those changes that we made, but it will help to continue to support the existing programming that we have,” says Salo.

Colleges will also benefit from a 2% increase in tuition fees.

This ends a tuition freeze that was put in place in 2018 after the province reduced them by 10%.

Salo says the increase will not address all of the revenue lost to colleges since.

“If you consider there was a 10% reduction in 2018 and it’s frozen since, the cumulative impact on the revenue is significant,” says Salo.

“It’s well over 30 % on the tuition side if we hadn’t had the drop in the freeze. So 2% is really a drop in the bucket, but it definitely helps to support, again, the future sustainability. And I think it’s a reasonable amount for students.”

The College is currently planning its budget for the next year.

The number of international students is expected to decline further as the federal cap continues to take hold.

Domestic student enrollment is expected to remain about the same for 2026-27 as it is now.

Salo says they are hoping to soon hear from the province on the exact amount of money they will receive, so they can finalize the budget and present it to the Board of Directors for approval in March.