Southeast College is looking at revising its initial plans for the upcoming fiscal year, after a reduction in funding from the provincial budget. The budget has a $6 million reduction in allocation for post-secondary education, which works out to a roughly 5 per cent drop for the college, according to interim CEO Jody Holzmiller.
“That’s significant, given that our operating funding has been status quo for quite some time,” Holzmiller told Discover Weyburn. “Given expenses that we incur as a result of collective bargaining agreement salary increases, even a status quo budget is a deficit budget, really.”
The college is also looking at a 20 per cent decrease in programming dollars, although Holzmiller noted some of that was expected. This was due to the end of targeted funding for some of their programming.
The preventative maintenance and renewal budget was one area where there was an increase for the college.
“We have spent the better part of two days, two and a half days, working through different scenarios and are currently just pulling things together to submit for the ministry with regards to the business plan and budget,” Holzmiller added.
While the executive team has been working on the plan, it is still subject to approval by both the board of the college as well as the Ministry of Advanced Education.
“There is a chance we may submit at the end of April, and still have some changes to make,” Holzmiller said.
The regional colleges in the province were the only post-secondary institutions to see, collectively, a decrease in allocations for the 2025-26 budget. Universities and technical institutes all received increases in the budget, with the reductions coming in the allocations to regional colleges and post-secondary capital transfers.