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As part of the original freeze in 2015, the government gave all post-secondary institutions a total of $16 million in new cash to make up for the tuition shortfall, but that dollar figure was absent from the most recent announcement and, with the university’s own budget process well under way, that has Turpin worried.

He is also worried about the length of the freeze itself.

“I think government has made it very, very difficult for themselves because if you roll this forward another year it becomes politically far more difficult to get out of a freeze moving into an election,” he told the board, adding that “freezes are unsustainable.

“It’s never been pretty coming out of a freeze and the longer the freeze, the uglier it is.”

Following the meeting, Turpin said he would be urging government to make up for the shortfall.

“We recognize the budget deliberations are ongoing and we will be working with government to make the case that backfill is critical to maintain the quality of post-secondary education in Alberta,” he said.

Officials from the University of Calgary and NAIT said they too would work closely with government in the budget process. No one was available to speak for MacEwan University.

On Friday, Schmidt said because the province is still in the pre-budget process, no decisions have been made on funding.

“But our government has made it clear that we are committed to stable, predictable funding for our post-secondary institutions,” he said.

“While the previous government was planning four-per-cent cuts over these last two years, our government reversed those cuts, and helped prepare Albertans for success by providing increases to institutions of two per cent during both of those years.”

jgraney@postmedia.com

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