2019-20 Operating Budget

Revenues and Expenses

• Total projected revenues for 2019-20: $535.9 million.
• Total projected expenses for 2019-20: $534.7 million.
• Projected operating surplus in 2019-20: $1.2 million
•  Like all Quebec universities, Concordia relies on grants from the Government of Quebec. These represents 52% of the total revenues of the university’s operating budget.
• Salaries and benefits represent 70.1% of our expenses.
• From 2008-09 to 2018-19, our investment in teaching, research and student support grew from 68% to 75%.
• During the same period, administrative expenses decreased from 14.3% of the total budget in 2008-09 to 12.7% in 2018-19. 

Scholarships and Financial Aid

• Since 2013-2014, our total scholarships and bursaries allocations have increased by 29%, from $28.5 million to $36.7 million.
• New investment in the 2019-20 budget includes the introduction of $1.1 million of recurring fee remissions for international PhD students and $900,000 of recurring entrance scholarships for new international undergrads. The latter represents a significant jump from the $100,000 in entrance scholarships existing today, bringing the total allocation for entrance scholarships to $1 million.

Investing in our future

• The university will inject over $20 million in support for Concordia’s academic and research mission, including $9.7 million in the base budgets of the Faculties, teaching and research.  
• Concordia remains committed to supporting its nine strategic directions and enhancing the student experience. To achieve this, we invest more than $2.1 million in strategic innovations  to support research and academic initiatives.
• We’ve also allocated funding to support the University’s Digital Strategy and Cybersecurity initiatives.

Eliminating our deficit

• From a $9.3 million deficit in 2015-16, the 2019-20 budget forecasts a surplus of $1.2 million, with elimination of the deficit taking place in 2018-19, one year earlier than anticipated.
• We are pleased to present a balanced budget in 2019-20, the first time we have been able to do so since 2013-14.
• Going forward, we will need to focus on recovering the cumulated deficit of $23 million.

• As of September 1, 2019, the Government of Quebec will no longer provide funding for any international undergraduate or professional, non-research master's students – except for French or Belgian students.
• Returning students staying in the same program are exempt. Only future deregulated international students – those beginning their studies in 2019-20 or later – are affected by the new government policy.
• In contrast to the rest of Canada, Quebec will continue to fund international PhD and research master's students. This is good news; the ongoing funding will allow us to continue building our research capacity here at Concordia and more widely, in Montreal and Quebec.
• The impact on Concordia (as calculated by the Government) is $6.6 million of lost funding annually.
• Our goal: address the gap in funding while continuing to support international students
• To do this, we plan to bring Concordia’s fees more in line with the average of its comparators through fee increases that are modest vs. national trends while absorbing the impact of lost funding over 4-5 years.
• Essentially, this means that new international deregulated students will see a yearly increase of between 4.25% and 8.25%, depending on their program.
• In polling prospective international students, we learned that predictability of cost is important to them; they want to know how much their studies will cost right from the start.
• Therefore, we propose to establish 2 models of predictable cohort pricing.

1. For international undergrad students: fees increase incrementally with each year of study
2. For professional and non-research master's students: one flat-rate fee increase for the program

What we will do with the revenue

• We will first recuperate the impact of the reduction in government funding.
• Going forward, the modest increases in tuition fees will allow us to further invest in international students by supporting language training to enable them to join the Quebec labour market, expanding on-campus work opportunities, and providing funding to offset emergencies such as currency fluctuations.
• It’s worth noting that Concordia’s proposed budget for 2019-20 contains new investment in support of international students, including the introduction of
  • $1.1 million of recurring fee remissions for international PhD students and
  • $900,000 of recurring entrance scholarships for new international undergrads.
• Our proposed tuition model will also allow us to further invest in the overall academic mission of the university to the benefit all students.

1) What are the key things I need to know about Concordia’s 2019-20 operating budget?

• The 2019-20 operating budget includes strategic investments that build on the momentum we’ve created through our strategic directions initiatives, along with our growth in research funding and student population.
• The good news is that the university will inject over $20 million in support for Concordia’s academic and research mission, including $9.7 million in the base budgets of the Faculties, teaching and research.  
• New investment in student support in 2019-20 includes the introduction of $1.1 million of recurring fee remissions for international PhD students and $900,000 of recurring entrance scholarships for new international undergrads. The latter represents a significant jump from the $100,000 in entrance scholarships existing today, bringing the total allocation for entrance scholarships to $1 million.
• We have achieved our goal of presenting a balanced budget in 2019-20.

2) Have years of budget cuts ended?

• Since 2010-11, Concordia, along with other Quebec universities, has been impacted by budget reductions
• In total, Concordia had suffered a cumulative loss of more than $90 million to its operating budget as a result of these reductions.
• To date, we have received two thirds of the five-year reinvestment that the Government of Quebec has committed to.
• Based on the reinvestment schedule, Concordia can expect to have fully recuperated the impact of budget reductions by 2022-23.

3) Concordia has recently announced a sustainable bond issue and an impact investment. What does that mean?

• In February 2019, Concordia became the first Canadian university to issue a sustainable bond, which will generate environmental and social benefits as defined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The $25-million bond will provide Concordia with the capital for its share of financing for the new Applied Science Hub on Loyola Campus, which is expected to become Concordia’s fourth LEED-certified facility.
• In April 2019, the Concordia University Foundation and investment firm Inergys Ventures announced that they had teamed up in the name of clean technologies. (Inerjys is a global investment firm committed to accelerating the adoption of cleantech to mitigate the effects of climate change.) $1.2 million from the Concordia University Foundation’s long-term pool will be invested in three of Inerjys’ portfolio companies:
  • AESP Green Energy, which builds scalable off-grid solar solutions
  • Stillgood Foods, whose sustainable snacks combat food waste and local food insecurity
  • Goliath Wind, whose modular rotor turbines challenge conventional wind-industry economics, both in manufacturing and operations
• Furthermore, the Concordia University Foundation Board has recently approved $3 million of additional allocations into impact investments expanding into a dedicated life sciences fund as well as a cleantech growth stage fund. The onboarding process has begun and more details will be provided once the process is concluded.

4) Is Concordia increasing tuition fees?

• As of September 1, 2019, Quebec will no longer provide funding for any international undergraduate or professional, non-research Master's students – except for French or Belgian students.
• Our goal is to address the gap in funding while continuing to support international students.
• We plan to bring Concordia’s fees more in line with the average of its comparators through fee increases that are modest vs. national trends while absorbing the impact of lost funding over 4-5 years.
• Essentially, this means that new international deregulated students will see a yearly increase of between 4.25% and 8.25%, depending on their program.
• Returning students staying in the same program are exempt. Only future deregulated international students – those beginning their studies in 2019-20 or later – are affected by the new government policy.

5) What will Concordia do with these additional revenues?

• First, we plan to recuperate the impact of the reduction in funding.
• Going forward, moderate increases in tuition fees will allow us to further invest in international students by supporting language training to enable them to join the Quebec labour market, expanding on-campus work opportunities, and providing funding to offset emergencies such as currency fluctuations.
• It’s worth noting that Concordia’s proposed budget for 2019-20 contains new investment in support of international students, including the introduction of
  • $1.1 million of recurring fee remissions for international PhD students and
  • $900,000 of recurring entrance scholarships for new international undergrads.
• Our new tuition model will also allow us to further invest in the overall academic mission of the university to the benefit all students.