The Board of Governors for the University of Northern British Columbia has approved a $68.4 million operating budget that will be balanced, despite financial pressures caused by a reduction in government funding, static enrolment, and rising operating costs.

“We’re able to balance the budget for next year by taking a number of actions: increasing tuition fees by 2%, adding international students, reducing our energy costs, transferring some profit from ancillary services to the operating budget, and re-structuring some units and reducing positions,” says UNBC President George Iwama. “It’s because of cooperation across the University that we’re able to balance our budget for 2013-14, and this spirit of cooperation will be critical as we articulate our strategic priorities and hold a collective conversation about how UNBC can achieve its goals.”

This process is being led by the President and the Vice-President Academic & Provost and is beginning immediately. Through the spring and summer, an advisory group will shape the themes and questions for a consultation that will explore revenue generation opportunities, areas of cost reduction, and strategic priorities. The results will be shaped into a plan through the fall and winter, and inform the preparation of the budget in 2014-15 and subsequent years.

About two-thirds of the operating budget for the University is provided by the Government of BC. Slightly ore than 27% comes from tuition fees. Wages and benefits account for three-quarters of the University’s expenditures.

As a result of the approval of the 2013-14 operating budget, the tuition fee for a full-time undergraduate student will now be $4816 per year, an increase of about $94 per year.