UBC faced no surprises from the provincial and the federal budgets announced last week, according to UBC administration.

“We were pleased to learn that university operating budgets would be maintained for 2010/2011, despite the difficult fiscal environment faced by the province,” said UBC VP Finance Pierre Ouillet. UBC currently has a structural deficit of $32 million for the fiscal year, up from $25 million from September.

According to UBC Comptroller Ian Burgess, UBC Vancouver will receive $521.5 million in operating funds from the province for the 2010/2011 fiscal year, an increase of 4.3 per cent from last year’s budget. Federal government grants for indirect costs of research will remain flat at just under $25 million.

Domestic tuition fees are still restricted by the two per cent cap. Interestingly enough, UBC will receive a Harmonized Sales Tax rebate that would allow UBC to dodge the 12 per cent sales tax, which comes into effect July 1.

Ouillet said the changes allow UBC to have more financial flexibility.

“Very specifically, it would allow us to borrow to build more student housing and invest in green infrastructure to make the Vancouver campus carbon neutral,” he said.

However, Ouillet warned that the university would need to keep a “close watch” on both student financial aid and the annual capital allowance (ACA) program—a fund by the province intended for building maintenance—both of which may face cuts next year to curb the provincial deficit.

In addition to a $6 million cut last year, ACA was reduced by another $7 million this year—putting UBC in a $32 million structural deficit, according to UBC President Stephen Toope’s letter to the UBC community on March 4. Out of the $32 million, approximately $22 million will come out of the administration through either having new revenues or cuts, while $10 million would come out of faculties.

“Lack of funding to maintain and upgrade our facilities…is one of my biggest concerns going forward,” said Ouillet, who specifically mentioned the current situation with the Sauder School of Business as an example. Sauder students will vote this Thursday and Friday on whether they want to pay an annual $500 fee for the $20 million upgrade to the Henry Angus Building.

Cindy Oliver, President of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC, is skeptical about the provincial government’s treatment of post-secondary education in the new budget.

She wrote in The Georgia Straight, “The budget numbers for post-secondary institutions show virtually no increase in their operating grants. Even more disconcerting is that per student funding is set to decline as the ministry forecasts more students and less overall funding.”

However, the university is not worried about the lack of major cuts to post-secondary education in a time of tightening budgets.

“Any time there is more research money available from the federal government, that’s usually a good thing for UBC,” said James Brander, Sauder Professor and an expert on budget analysis. The federal budget will add $25 million to UBC’s total external research fund of $475 million. The money will help various UBC research projects including Genome Canada, TRIUMF, National Research Council and the Canadian Space Agency.

“The federal government is fairly aggressive with funding research…and UBC will do quite well from that,” said Brander.

Brander is optimistic about UBC’s $32 million structural deficit situation. “Of course there will be small cuts here and there, but there are also expansions in other parts of the university,” he said. “Overall, I think that UBC’s financial future and its academic future really looks pretty good.”