Keeping it Frank

By: Sam Franks 

BELLEVILLE – On Wednesday Jan. 29, President and CEO of Loyalist College, Mark Kirkpatrick announced the layoffs of one-fifth of staff and faculty, and the suspension of 24 programs.  

Kirkpatrick believes that rural communities are suffering more than metropolitan areas.  

“This college is now under a fiscal challenge; the hospital has been under fiscal challenges – it’s worse in the rural area. The municipalities that get downloaded on – it’s worse in the rural area. At some point the province has to say, do they care?” Kirkpatrick said.  

Kirkpatrick said that the influx of international students hid the fact that the Ontario government has been underfunding education for years.  

“Colleges in Ontario have always had to try to find a creative and innovate ways to generate alternative revenue sources,” Kirkpatrick said.  

Ontario is the least funded province and territory for post-secondary education, according to Statistics Canada.  

Funding to Ontario’s public colleges has decreased by 20 per cent since 2009.  

Eight Provinces and Territories colleges are over 70 per cent funded by their provincial government.  

“It’s really hard to generate $40 million in new revenue at the speed that we’re losing it,” Kirkpatrick said.  

Loyalist College spends $61 million yearly in operating expenses, according to a government report.  

Student fees make up for over half of Ontario’s college revenues, while public funding decreased to 32 per cent.  

In 2009, those roles were reversed – meaning more public funding and less reliance on student fees.  

Kirkpatrick said that freezing tuition for domestic students seemed great at the time, but long-term effects weren’t considered.  

“I honestly feel that small town in rural Ontario is paying a significant price because of the underfunding, far more than a large metropolitan area,” Kirkpatrick said.  

He said that rural colleges like Loyalist have to spend more on operational costs compared to bigger cities. Many students rely on public transit to get to school and public transit is less accessible in the Quinte region.    

“I feel like we’ve dimmed a little bit of hope out of a lot of young people here because they thought that this was a cool career and they could go to the loyalist, and now they can’t go there, and they can’t afford to go somewhere else,” he said.  

In a small town like Belleville, many local residents consider Loyalist College when seeking post-secondary education.  

Kirkpatrick said the college was quietly reducing spending in a way that would not be noticeable to staff and students, but couldn’t stop the suspensions.  

“Towards the end of last year, we realized that it’s not enough. This fiscal issue is hitting faster and faster and faster,” Kirkpatrick said.  

“I think that they (provincial government) need to understand the true workforce needs of this region, of this region and this province, and adjust accordingly. And also start talking positively about post secondary in Canada,” Kirkpatrick said.  

“The federal government did a very good job in a very short period. Time of taking away that reputation provincially, I think the I think the province has to step up”  

Kirkpatrick said the suspensions were made based on future job predictions, student enrollment  

These suspensions are not only to Loyalist, colleges all across Ontario have been making major cuts to staff and programs.