CBU Board of Governors Approves 2025-2026 Operating Budget

The Cape Breton University Board of Governors has approved a 2025-2026 operating budget of $106.5 million, reflecting a $6.8 million deficit, as part of a three-year financial plan to bring the budget back to balance. The budget comes as post-secondary institutions across Canada are significantly impacted by changes in rules and regulations implemented by the Federal Government through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

The last five years, CBU has seen peak student enrolment, reaching 9,100 in 2024. Recent modeling, which considers IRCC impacts and new program development, shows a projected student population of roughly 5,100 – 5,400 over the next three years, resulting in an estimated 25 per cent decrease of CBU’s original enrolment target to stabilize at 7,100. This is a loss of 3,200 students for CBU and a $33 million loss in tuition revenue for 2025/26.

Over the next three years, strategic investments will be made in program development and renewal to attract both domestic and international students and retain students currently enrolled. While the 2025/26 budget deficit was originally projected at more than $20 million, work to cut costs has lowered the deficit to $6.8 million for the current fiscal year.

This work was guided by an attempt to minimize the impact on CBU employees, and included significant reductions in non-personnel costs, such as moving CBU operations previously located within the downtown core back to campus. Unfortunately, as just over 70 per cent of CBU’s costs are related to staffing, the magnitude of the revenue loss will also mean adjustments to staffing levels such as:

•           non-renewal of 56 term positions

•           elimination of 14 positions through attrition and not filling several staff vacancies

•           plans to eliminate upwards of 42 additional positions under the three-year financial plan.

“We have, and continue to make, every effort possible to minimize the employee impact caused by IRCC policy changes. However, the IRCC regulations have hit Canadian universities hard, and CBU is not an exception,” says President and Vice-Chancellor, David C. Dingwall. “We are working with our management team to determine further employee impacts and could see layoffs as early as this June.”

Mitigation strategies already implemented include the launch of an Early Retirement Incentive Program for eligible employees and prioritizing the placement of existing full-time staff in new positions required to support the Cape Breton Medical campus which will begin operations this summer. The extent of the impact upon CBU staff will be dependent upon the success of these strategies.

As CBU implements the parameters of its three-year financial plan, there will be some increases in student fees in order to maintain the exceptional student experience CBU is known for. All strategic investments will position the institution for continued success in local and global markets. All ongoing and previously budgeted infrastructure projects, such as the Cape Breton Medical Campus, the Collaborative Health Clinic and the Centre for Discovery and Innovation, will proceed as planned. These developments will transform campus, creating a vibrant and revitalized environment that supports academic excellence, forward-thinking innovation and provides students with the state-of-the-art facilities they expect.

“CBU has always been a place of progress, and we are proud of the momentum we have built together. Even in challenging times such as this, as we move forward, we do so with clarity of purpose and a deep commitment to excellence,” says Dingwall. “Through innovative thinking and collaboration, we will continue to persevere and to elevate the exceptional work being done here.”