NL increases funding for post-secondary, confirms tuition freeze

“The government of Newfoundland and Labrador released its 2026 budget this Wednesday, its first since being elected last year. The budget allocates $446 million to post-secondary education in the province — compared to $432 million in 2025-26 — and includes a previously announced tuition fee freeze. The freeze takes effect this fall, for both Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) and College of the North Atlantic. Minister of Finance Craig Pardy said that the freeze will help ensure “students have access to a high-quality post-secondary education in Newfoundland and Labrador” and that it “will only be lifted when we have confidence from all leaders across the sector that the system is back on track.” “We’re extremely happy about the tuition freeze being announced,” said Nicolas Keough, chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students – Newfoundland and Labrador (CFS-NL). “It’s a big moment for students and it’s directly as a result of the student unions.” But, he added, CFS-NL is concerned about the operating funding for post-secondary institutions. “We don’t know how much money needs to go towards the tuition freeze and how much is to go to operations,” he said. Uncertainty persists despite funding increase MUN will receive $328.7 million for operations, an increase of 5.5%, or $17 million, from the previous year; however, that includes funding to help offset the cost of the tuition freeze. “Our understanding at this point is that, really, all the gains to Memorial were related to relief to offset that tuition freeze, and that otherwise previously planned cuts have gone ahead. So, the end result of that is a net gain overall of a relatively small amount,” Lisa Moores, president of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association, said. “We wanted to really see this new PC government kind of strike out in a new direction and make a firm commitment to begin the process of rebuilding Memorial University. We’ve had over a decade of pretty steady cuts. Right now, we’re still looking at a budget to run the university in 2026 that’s really a 2013 or 2012 budget,” said Dr. Moores. “What that means on the ground is that we still anticipate program cuts, job losses, decrease of the capacity of teaching at the university and also a continuing move towards a smaller university.” A university spokesperson said they don’t currently have an estimate as to how much of the increase in operating funding is intended to offset the tuition fee freeze. The university is analyzing the provincial grant allocation, along with other revenue sources such as tuition, to develop its operating budget. MUN has been trying to address a financial shortfall of approximately $25 million, reducing its executive leadership team and divesting property earlier this year. In a statement on the MUN website, the university’s president, Janet Morrison, said the budget “provides the stability needed to implement structural change deliberately and navigate our changing circumstances head-on,” also noting that “this year’s funding doesn’t eliminate hard decisions.” Medicine, nursing, receive targeted funding Also included in the budget was an increase of $4.7 million for MUN’s faculty of medicine operating budget, which came in addition to the overall allocation to MUN. Most of the faculty’s funding goes toward general operating costs and the implementation of previous commitments, including increasing the yearly intake of MD students at the St. John’s campus from 80 to 90. The province announced that it would invest almost $8 million to increase the total number of graduating nurses from 48 to 72 annually. The funding allocated to the faculty of nursing is included in MUN’s operating funding. In addition to the funding allocated directly to the university, more than $40 million over five years has been earmarked for a new graduate tuition refund program, starting next fiscal year. The program, which was part of the Progressive Conservatives’ campaign platform, will provide a tuition refund to graduates who stay, work and live in Newfoundland and Labrador. The province also allocated $5 million for paid work terms for “students pursuing health care careers in hard-to-fill areas.” Support for an apprenticeship training program, in collaboration with industry partners, was also announced. No further details were provided. MUN’s 2026-2027 operating budget is expected to be released in May. The post NL increases funding for post-secondary, confirms tuition freeze appeared first on University Affairs .

Summary generated from the RSS feed of University Affairs CA. All article rights belong to the original publisher. Click through to read the full piece on www.universityaffairs.ca.