MAFA recognizes that Mount Allison University has entered a challenging and uncertain financial environment. The 2026–2027 budget reflects several significant pressures, including a frozen provincial operating grant, rising costs, changing enrolment patterns, and a projected operating deficit.
The University’s response must continue to support academic excellence, student success, and long-term financial stability. The Strategic Plan acknowledges the need to choose carefully among competing actions, guided by ethical stewardship and a commitment to community. MAFA expects both the choices presented in this budget and the processes used to make future decisions to reflect that standard.
Provincial funding and public advocacy
MAFA believes that universities must communicate more effectively the importance of post-secondary education to the wider provincial community. The provincial grant freeze and the possibility of future cuts should not be treated as fixed and unavoidable conditions.
Working with other university administrations, Mount Allison should make the case directly to New Brunswickers for adequate post-secondary funding. Universities educate people who will contribute to every aspect of life in New Brunswick and support the province’s social, cultural, civic, and economic development. Mount Allison should collaborate with other institutions and community partners to build public and political support for sustained public investment in post-secondary education.
Protecting Mount Allison’s academic mission
The budget contains positive elements on which the University community can build. These include increased funding for financial aid, anticipated enrolment growth, continued support for academic salaries, and the stated commitment to maintaining the number of tenured positions.
We also welcome the budget’s recognition that Mount Allison’s distinctive strength rests on sustained engagement between students and faculty and on the quality of its liberal education. This recognition aligns with the Strategic Plan’s commitment to a Transformative Student Experience, which places students and the faculty who teach them at the heart of the University’s purpose.
Maintaining tenured and tenure-track positions is not merely a budget line. These positions are the underlying mechanism by which the Strategic Plan’s core principle is delivered. The stated commitment to maintaining them is therefore necessary, but not sufficient. The quality and conditions of these positions matter equally, including workload, research support, class sizes,
program responsibilities, and faculty members’ capacity to provide students with a high-quality educational experience.
Questions requiring further attention
The budget raises important questions about the sustainability of the University’s financial model, the allocation of resources, staffing priorities, employee workloads, and the effects of increased tuition and fees on students.
Increased financial-aid funding is welcome, but the University must also assess the broader effects of tuition and fee increases on accessibility, student debt, recruitment, and retention. Decisions about staffing and resource allocation must be evaluated not only in terms of immediate savings, but also in terms of their long-term effects on academic programs, working conditions, and the quality of the Mount Allison Experience.
Addressing these questions will require the knowledge, creativity, and commitment of faculty, staff, students, and administrators. The next step should be an open discussion of the University’s priorities, the choices it faces, and the consequences of different courses of action.
Meaningful participation and a process for developing solutions
Faculty members bring substantial knowledge of teaching, research, program development, and the day-to-day challenges of serving students. We are prepared to contribute this expertise by working collaboratively to identify practical solutions, clarify priorities, safeguard academic programs, and promote healthy and sustainable workplaces.
As partners in delivering a high-quality Mount Allison Experience, we share the goal of addressing short-term financial pressures without compromising the University’s long-term institutional strength or academic excellence.
For this collaboration to be meaningful, faculty and other members of the University community must be involved in planning and decision-making, not simply informed of outcomes. Engagement must begin while options are still being developed and while community contributions can influence the choices under consideration.
A transparent process should provide timely access to relevant financial and enrolment information, clear criteria for evaluating options, opportunities to propose alternatives, and explanations of how community contributions have influenced final decisions.
The current situation presents an opportunity to strengthen a culture of care and well-being grounded in trust, transparency, and shared responsibility. MAFA urges the administration to
establish an open, inclusive, and ongoing process in which faculty, staff, students, and administrators can develop and evaluate solutions together before difficult choices are made.
Mount Allison’s future will be strongest when faculty, staff, students, and administrators work together. MAFA is ready to contribute constructively to a process that protects the outstanding educational opportunities at the core of the Mount Allison Experience.