Despite recent welcome news from the province of increased multi-year investment in STEM funding, Trent University – like other universities across the province – continues to face financial pressures.
The provincial funding increase announced in April 2025 helps to reduce Trent’s 2025/26 deficit and minimizes the need to draw on operating contingency funds – but a structural deficit remains at the University.
The structural deficit (due to the sustained freeze in domestic tuition, rising inflationary costs and reductions of international students) will be compounded in the next several years. Decreases in new student intake will flow through in each enrolment year, increasing the University’s future deficits into the tens of millions annually should there be no further change.
Seeing this confluence of factors, the President and Vice Presidents Committee has implemented a number of Budget Strategy Working Groups to devise short and long-term opportunities aimed at helping the University’s fiscal situation.
The following working groups are reporting to President Cathy Bruce:
Enrolment Task Force
Purpose
Established by the Strategic Enrolment Management Committee in the fall of 2024 to ensure agile strategies and initiatives that respond to changing external conditions affecting enrolment.
Committee Members
- Marilyn Burns, Vice President, Communications & Enrolment (Chair)
- Mark Skinner, Acting Provost & Vice President, Academic
- Scott Henderson, Vice President & Head, Durham
- Glennice Burns, Associate Vice President, International
- Craig Brunetti, Dean, Graduate Studies
- Sarah West, Dean, Sciences
- Eliza Nicholson, Director, Recruitment & Admissions
- Heather Crowley, University Registrar
- Steve Jones, Director, Enrolment Planning & Strategy Analysis
- Brooke Dakers, Communications & Enrolment Associate (support)
Cost Containment and Reduction Working Group
Purpose
Established to identify, evaluate, and recommend strategies to reduce costs and contain expenditures. The working group aims to enhance financial sustainability while preserving the University's core academic mission and critical support services.
Committee Members
- Tariq Al-idrissi, Vice President, Finance & Administration (Chair)
- Mark Skinner, Acting Provost & Vice President, Academic
- Stephanie Williams, Vice President, Human Resources
- Scott Henderson, Vice President & Head, Trent Durham
- Holger Hintelmann, Vice President, Research &Innovation
- Cheryl Turk, Associate Vice President, Finance
- Adam Myers, Manager, Budget & Reporting, Finance
- Jayme Hughes, Executive Assistant, Office of the Vice President Finance & Administration
Revenue Generation Working Group
Purpose
Established in the Winter of 2025 to consider and analyse new and innovative sources of revenue that build on Trent’s strengths, including summer programming, executive training and transnational education opportunities.
Committee Members
- Julie Davis, Vice President, External Relations & Development (Chair)
- Marilyn Burns, Vice President, Communications & Enrolment
- Mark Skinner, Acting Provost & Vice President, Academic
- Glennice Burns, Associate Vice President, International
- Cris de Clercy, Professor, Jarislowsky Chair in Trust & Political Leadership
- Kevin Whitmore, Director, Careerspace
- Jennifer Otterwell, Director, Institutional Financial Reporting, Finance
To support broader consultation, these groups invited ideas and input from key faculty and staff across the University through a series of meetings and an email survey. The strategies gathered through this process will inform the budget planning cycle in late 2025.
Trent University continues to be a creative and cohesive community, known for its ability to come together in pursuit of innovative solutions. Ultimately, we are all working toward a sustainable financial future for Trent.