This article originally appeared in the National Post. Below is an excerpt from the article.
By Peter MacKinnon, November 3, 2025
When it comes to how Canadian universities are funded, something has to give. It is simply not sustainable for governments to reduce or hold constant their contributions to university operating budgets while tightly controlling how much tuition may be charged to students: for years now, permissible tuition increases have fallen below increases in operating costs.
This was an issue that was recently addressed by the Alberta government’s Expert Panel on Post-Secondary Institution Funding and Alberta’s Competitiveness, a five-member panel that included myself and was chaired by Jack Mintz.
The panel consulted widely among stakeholders, undertook research, in-province and comparative, and produced a 93-page written report in September, following nine months of work. Though directed to the government and people of Alberta, the report addresses issues that are common across Canada and may therefore prove helpful to governments and institutions in other provinces.
***TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE, VISIT THE NATIONAL POST HERE***
Peter MacKinnon is President Emeritus of the University of Saskatchewan and a senior fellow of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and the Aristotle Foundation.
