Strategic allocations
The budget process provides an opportunity for academic and administrative units to put forward annual requests for funding to the Budget Working Group. To support the IARP and the differentiated growth strategy, we use the activity-based budgeting (ABB) model to enhance transparency around direct and indirect revenue and costs to provide data to inform allocation decisions. While the university does not fully implement the ABB model, it serves as an incentive for faculties and units to generate revenue, manage costs more effectively and understand how different programs are subsidized. In comparison to the last fiscal year, there are about $18.8M of new or reallocated expenses (i.e. 57 per cent labour, 18 per cent student experience, 10 per cent investment in artificial intelligence projects, and 7 per cent capital). The summary of the allocations follows in the remainder of this section.
Labour costs: These represent the largest share of our annual budget and the most significant increase in expenses compared to last year. This $10.7M increase includes:
- $7.4M full-time ($5.4M for existing contractual commitments, $2.0M for new hires).
- $3.3M part-time (sessional instructors, teaching assistants and university work students).
Almost 80 per cent of our annual operating budget supports personnel salaries and benefits. In 2011, our Senior Academic Team set a goal to alter the student-to-faculty ratio from 36:1 to 31:1. Without increases in tuition and grants or adjustments to curricular cost structures, this goal is no longer feasible ( Figures 5 and 6).
| FTE COUNT - TOTAL | 2024-25 Budget | 2025-26 Budget | 2026-27 Forecast | 2027-28 Forecast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FFTE's | 10,466 | 11,445 | 11,610 | 11,607 |
| Tenure/Tenure Track | 235.6 | 240.1 | 242.6 | 242.6 |
| Teaching Faculty | 96.0 | 96.0 | 97.0 | 97.0 |
| LTFM | 13.3 | 12.0 | 12.1 | 12.1 |
| Student: Faculty | 30.3 | 32.9 | 33.0 | 33.0 |
| Support Staff - Durham College | 60.3 | 57.0 | 54.0 | 54.0 |
| Support Staff - OPSEU | 340.8 | 357.8 | 357.8 | 357.8 |
| Non-Union - Admin/Support | 194.8 | 197.8 | 197.8 | 197.8 |
| Student: Staff | 17.6 | 18.7 | 19.0 | 19.0 |
Student experience and financial aid costs: We are investing an additional $3.3M in student-related supports, with $1.5M (largely funded by ancillary fee increases) dedicated to the student experience and $1.8M in financial aid. Five per cent of our annual budget is allocated to scholarships and bursaries facilitating student access. In line with our international student enrolment targets, we have introduced funds to assist our students. In 2025-2026, with increasing investments in entrance scholarships, graduate student assistance, and a new international support program, we will distribute more than $17M to our students.
Capital infrastructure costs: An additional $1.4M is allocated to new assets and repairs to our IT and facilities infrastructure. Combined with the current base that is mainly offset by grants, this brings the total capital investment to about $9.5M. We are in the second year of the four-year plan to move our IT enterprise system to the cloud. Currently, we are on a shared system with Durham College, using separate technology platforms to maintain each institution’s data separately. However, this structure no longer meets our distinct computing needs. Transitioning requires purchasing site licenses and implementing new peripheral systems to replace what we currently share. We remain within our original budget with $6M expected to be spent over the next two years. In totality, the new systems should be ready for training in summer 2026 with the complete transition to occur before March 2028.