Regional colleges in Saskatchewan will be receiving a little less from the provincial government in the next fiscal year. The 2025-26 budget, released Wednesday afternoon in Regina, has $35,792,000 going to the regional college system. This is down from the 2024-25 budget. They are the only post-secondary institution group to see an actual decrease in allocations in the budget.
“We were hoping for a status quo budget,” said Jody Holzmiller, the interim CEO of Southeast College. “We saw a bit of a decrease so the college will go back to work in the next couple of weeks and adjust our business plan and budget accordingly, based on what we’ve learned today.”
The Advanced Education spending estimates show an increase in spending for universities of just under $10 million and just over $2 million for technical institutes. The slight drop in funding for regional colleges compared to the other institutions is concerning for Holzmiller.
“I think we do work well as a system, but I think there is still a bit of competition between the college system, and what we reference as the big three,” Holzmiller added.
The advanced education budget highlights didn’t include any capital expenditures for Southeast College. For student supports, there was no change in the allocations for the Saskatchewan Student Aid Fund and scholarships presented by the provincial government. The budget includes $34.367 million for student aid and $12.17 million for scholarships.