While some of UBC’s reported surplus from the 2021/22 fiscal year will go to directly supporting students, a large majority has already been allocated to previous financial commitments, UBC said.
In its 2021/22 financial statement, UBC reported a surplus of $161 million, marking the second year in a row the university has reported a surplus. In the 2020/21 fiscal year, UBC reported a $82 million surplus.
In a statement to The Ubyssey, Karamjeet Heer, UBC’s interim vice-president finance, clarified the importance of the context in which surplus is defined.
“It is important to recognize that we use ‘surplus’ as an accounting term to indicate an additional amount of retained earnings recorded on a balance sheet. It is not an indicator of money available for spending,” she said. “An accounting surplus is only one of many indicators that can be used to assess the financial position of a university.”
Of this $161 million, Heer said $1 million was available for operating use, which UBC can freely allocate.The rest consists of non-operating funds which are “restrictive in nature and not available for general operating use.” UBC Media Relations later clarified non-operating fund spending covers capital- and research-related activities, as well as long-term strategic initiatives.
Heer wrote that the operational fund surplus will be put to support students and UBC’s academic mission.
“In the event of a significant operating surplus, we have typically reinvested the surplus in the core teaching, learning & research mission of the university and the student experience such as mental health, wellbeing, or financial aid.”
While it is unclear what the surplus was used for, UBC Media Relations pointed to the 2022/23 budget which indicates large increases in spending towards initiatives in the people and places, local and global engagement, sustainment, risk & compliance and strategic plan enablement focus areas between the 2021/22 and 2022/23 fiscal years. UBC Media Relations did not comment on specific initiatives within these areas.
Heer attributed this year and last year’s surpluses to a multitude of factors.
“UBC’s financial position improved in 2020/21 and 2021/22 from the previous fiscal years as a result of strong student enrolment and sustained demand, as well as improvements in investments returns and the return to campus activities, particularly through housing, food services, parking, athletics, and recreation,” wrote Heer.
UBC isn’t the only post-secondary institution to see an improved financial position.
A Statistics Canada report from August noted that Canadian universities reported record high surpluses of $7.3 billion during the 2020/21 fiscal year, despite concerns over student enrolment and expenditures to implement COVID-19 measures.
The findings from this report match what is found in UBC’s 2021/22 financial statement. The university’s revenue from tuition and student fees, sales and services, and investment income increased by $62 million, $139 million and $55 million respectively between the 2020/21 and 2021/22 fiscal years.
UBC’s reported expenditures, however, differ from the Statistics Canada report which found a 3.8 per cent decrease in university expenditures. Over the past three years, UBC’s expenditures have increased from $2.29 billion in 2019/20, to $2.84 billion in 2020/21 to $3.05 billion in 2021/22