TWAC met with President Richard Van Loon to discuss what is being done and what the University community should expect. At the same time as the government was cutting back its funding, Carleton experienced an unprecedented decrease in enrolment, the impact of which was offset somewhat by increases in tuition fees. We have also increased our recruitment effort, have repositioned our academic programs to more clearly focus our image in new strategic directions, and have introduced a program evaluation process to ensure that the programs we offer are, and will remain, strong. But the bottom line is that we are still spending more money than we bring in. To be a financially viable and stable institution, we must act now to balance our budget.
Many organizations carry operating deficits for years.
The first is our large, and growing, cumulative deficit. Since 1995-96, a total of 71 faculty positions and 116 administrative positions have been eliminated through the voluntary separation program. While the reduction in positions has resulted in a reduction in expenditures for compensation, it has cost the University money in the short term to offer reasonable and attractive severance packages. These one-time costs could not be taken out of operating revenues and thus have been added to our deficit. Compared to a university with no accumulated deficit, this effectively costs us one to two million dollars less annual income.