[1]Cathy Rushton, Loyalist’s senior vice-president of corporate services, delivering a financial update to the board of governors. Photo by Joseph Quigley, QNet News
By Joseph Quigley [2]
BELLLEVILLE – Loyalist College’s plans for a balanced budget are likely to be met, according to a financial update delivered at the board of governors meeting on Thursday.
Cathy Rushton, Loyalist’s senior vice-president of corporate services, gave the board the update, which shows positive signs for the college’s finances.
Rushton said that the college is ahead of budget by $565,000 so far in the 2015-16 fiscal year. Though this is expected to level out as the year progresses, Rushton added that the variance is good news.
“We are confident that we will balance by year end,” she said.
Loyalist president Maureen Piercy said the financial outlook for the college is positive.
“We have a goal of balancing our operating budget and we’re monitoring it very closely through the year. So we looked at some results to the end of September tonight and we’re tracking very closely to that goal,” said Piercy.
Loyalist ran into financial difficulties in 2014-15 when it ran a $3.6 million deficit [3] – $1.1 million more than originally planned. The deficit prompted the college to make a number of cutbacks and changes to how it organized its finances in an effort to return to a balanced budget this year.
Though there may be unexpected circumstances that could challenge that goal, Piercy said the college can adjust for them.
“There may be things that happen during the year. It could be an area where the performance is different than we anticipated,” she said. But the college will make the accommodations it needs to as the year goes along “to make sure the overall budget ends up where we need it to be.”
College enrolment was also discussed during the meeting. The number of students who enrolled this September is similar to last year.
“Our overall fall enrolment is essentially flat with last year, with close to 2,800 students at the Belleville and Bancroft campuses, and we’re pleased with that,” said Piercy. She added that several programs in the college had waiting lists, including Construction Engineering Technician [4] and Practical Nursing [5].
Loyalist governor David MacKinnon wanted to know if there were any negative trends for programs in terms of enrolment.
“Are there any (programs) you’re disappointed for the enrolment in?” asked MacKinnon.
Piercy said that there are some programs that have a lesser enrolment that the college works to recruit for.
“We have programs that we are really focusing on increasing. Ideally, we would have programs full in every area, ” she said. “We have programs where we would like to have seen more enrolment, and those are programs of focus to us in terms of our recruitment.”
The next board of governors meeting is on Dec. 3. A new projection for Loyalist’s finances to the end of its fiscal year is expected at that meeting.