In recent years, the Ontario government has advanced higher education through its Reaching Higher Plan. The plan set ambitious goals to enhance access, quality and accountability and it accomplished much for Ontario. Since 2005-06, Reaching Higher has brought significant increases in revenue to our institutions (See Graph 1).
However, the government’s commitments did not envision the magnitude of growth that occurred over the past five years. Enrolment has increased by more than 100,000 students since 2000. Graph 3 illustrates the per student impact of the increases in operating grants from the Ontario government. The investments made through the Reaching Higher Plan successfully accommodated growth and increased the per student operating grant.
Costs at Ontario universities also increased during this period, in some cases exceeding increases in inflation.
Graph 1: Total Operating Grants - The following table provides a historical summary of total operating grant revenue provided to the universities from the Ontario government.
Source: COFO-UO, Financial Report of Ontario Universities
Note: Capital grants from the government to universities are not included.
Graph 2: Total Operating Funding per Full-Time Equivalent Students
Sources:
Enrolment: Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
Operating Grant Revenue: COFO-UO, Financial Report of Ontario Universities
Note: 2008 constant dollars are calculated using CPI for the 2008/2009 academic calendar year.
Graph 3: Provincial Operating Grants and Tuition Fee Revenue
Notes: Ancillary fees are not included.
Sources:
Operating Grants: COFO-UO, Financial Report of Ontario Universities
Tuition Fees: COFO-UO, Financial Report of Ontario Universities
Table 1: Operating Grants and Contracts from the Ontario Government received by each university for the 2008-09 year.
| Fund |
Basic
Formula
Grant
($ thousands) |
Other MTCU
Grants and
Contracts
($ thousands) |
Other Ontario
Government
Grants and
Contracts
($ thousands) |
Total Ontario
Grants and
Contracts
($ thousands) |
| Algoma University |
$3,902 |
$5,480 |
$164 |
$9,546 |
| Brock University |
$63,591 |
$16,548 |
$113 |
$80,252 |
| Carleton University |
$125,969 |
$14,947 |
$116 |
$141,032 |
| Guelph, University of |
$118,351 |
$42,017 |
$5,848 |
$166,216 |
| Lakehead University |
$39,813 |
$13,946 |
$3,357 |
$57,116 |
| Laurentian University |
$42,133 |
$31,609 |
$658 |
$74,400 |
| McMaster University |
$128,908 |
$81,487 |
$34,746 |
$245,141 |
| Nipissing University |
$18,363 |
$9,569 |
$0 |
$27,932 |
| OCAD University |
$14,089 |
$4,967 |
$0 |
$19,056 |
Ontario Institute of
Technology, University of |
$28,470 |
$18,042 |
$0 |
$46,512 |
| Ottawa, University of |
$193,473 |
$91,207 |
$2,058 |
$286,738 |
| Queen's University |
$147,965 |
$20,616 |
$10,951 |
$179,532 |
| Ryerson University |
$125,256 |
$56,311 |
$3,882 |
$185,449 |
| Toronto, University of |
$435,508 |
$172,613 |
$8,651 |
$616,772 |
| Trent University |
$29,789 |
$11,835 |
$3,376 |
$45,000 |
| Waterloo, University of |
$149,415 |
$62,376 |
$1,103 |
$212,894 |
| Western Ontario, University of |
$224,290 |
$45,123 |
$8,621 |
$278,034 |
| Wilfrid Laurier University |
$63,452 |
$21,322 |
$0 |
$84,774 |
| Windsor, University of |
$87,866 |
$14,227 |
$0 |
$102,093 |
| York University |
$217,469 |
$85,714 |
$99 |
$303,282 |
Source: COFO-UO, Financial Report of Ontario Universities