To the MSVU community,
At their April 30, 2026 meeting, the Mount Saint Vincent University Board of Governors approved the university’s operating budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year.
Like post-secondary institutions across the country, MSVU is operating in a challenging fiscal environment with increasing costs and declining student enrolment, including a significant decline in international student enrolment due to changes to Federal international study permit policy.
While this context required some very difficult budget decisions, we remain unwavering in our commitment to delivering high-quality programs, maintaining strong academic standards, and ensuring a supportive student experience.
We appreciate the broad community engagement to identify potential areas for budget savings and help chart a more sustainable path forward for MSVU. Through our collective efforts, we have realized savings that have helped close the gap in our 2026-2027 operating budget. At this point, a deficit of $1.74M is projected. We encourage you to continue to share ideas for cost savings and revenue generation. All ideas are worthwhile. More information about our budget is available here (see MSVU 2026-2027 Budget Report under the Budget Reports tab).
Tuition adjustments
As part of our commitment to accessibility, MSVU aims to keep tuition increases as low as possible.
As required by our bilateral agreement with the Province, there will be no increase to tuition for Nova Scotia undergraduate students in 2026-2027. There will also be no increase for domestic undergraduate students from outside NS. The following tuition increases are included in our 2026-2027 budget and will take effect for Fall 2026: 5% for all graduate students; and 5% for all international students.
Workforce planning
Despite our best efforts to increase our revenues, it was clear that we had more work to do to reduce our costs. After careful planning and consideration, we have made the difficult, yet necessary decision to reduce our workforce by 24.5 positions. While many of these changes were achieved through attrition (17.5 positions) over the last 6 months, unfortunately, seven administrative employees were informed today that their positions have been eliminated.
We know it is difficult to lose valued colleagues; the decision to eliminate these positions was not taken lightly. We are working with impacted employees to provide the necessary supports and resources during this difficult time. We also continue to review all hiring requests carefully and only fill position vacancies in critical circumstances or those funded through other means. We will closely monitor the impacts of these changes and consider how these impacts can be addressed going forward.
Looking ahead
Throughout the next several months, there will be additional opportunities for idea sharing and dialogue. We sincerely appreciate the continued dedication of our community as we move forward. Together, we will ensure that MSVU remains strong and accessible for generations of students to come.
Joël
Dr. Joël Dickinson
President and Vice-Chancellor
Mount Saint Vincent University