Camosun College is now looking at a deficit of approximately $6.7 million this fiscal year due to COVID-19.
Among the factors impacting the college’s revenue is international tuition: Camosun anticipated that there would be a drop in international enrollment from the fall 2020 term to the winter 2021 term, and there has been. International enrollment is down from 1,585 in winter 2020 to 1,177 in winter 2021.
“Our domestic enrollment has held steady throughout the year; we’re down about two percent over last year, which is about where we were in the fall, too,” says Camosun president Sherri Bell.
This dip means getting permission through the provincial government’s treasury board to run at a deficit for a couple of years, says Bell. She says those conversations with the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training are happening across the entire post-secondary sector.
“It’s always hard to see numbers drop,” she says, “because, of course, that has an impact on the classes that are happening right now.”
The college doesn’t expect any sort of funding or bailout from government, says Bell.
“I expect that we will have to show that we have a plan to address the deficit,” says Bell.
There’s no word yet on what that plan might look like once the treasury board looks at trends across the sector, but as of right now, Bell says there no plans for any more cuts or layoffs at the college. (The college closed its Continuing Education department in June and announced “less than 50 positions” would be impacted by layoffs or reductions in positions in departments across the college.)
“Looking at our quarter two, and now quarter three, finances, we have to submit to government so they can see where all the institutions are trending towards, and then they can talk to treasury board about the whole sector, and the kind of deficit that we all will be facing,” she says.
But there has been some good that has come out of all of this, says Bell; for example, some services the college offers are more accessible online. Still, Bell realizes that the pandemic is difficult on both staff and students.
“This is tough,” she says. “This is wearing on everyone; I think a big part of it is, people are kind of lonely.”
Even when it is safe to have students return to campus—which Bell is “cautiously optimistic” may happen in September of this year—services and classes may remain as a blend of online and in-person. (The college has had options for online courses for a number of years.) Regardless of what the details of the future look like, Bell acknowledges the pressure that students and staff have been under since March of last year.
“It certainly isn’t easy; we miss everyone,” says Bell. “I hope that people know that there is someone out there who cares about them… We can’t wait to see everyone again.”
CORRECTION: This article originally had incorrect numbers about Camosun’s international enrollment. It has been corrected to reflect the accurate numbers. We apologize for the mistake.