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“They have not said, ‘No, you are not getting it’, but on the other hand, there has been a strong signal given, what with the state of the provincial economy, we probably shouldn’t depend on it,” Atkinson said.

“And we are only assuming at this point that the government will fulfil its commitment to stable funding on the grant side.

“When you factor in the additional costs of running a university we’re looking to have to find, within the constraints of our budget, money that we may already be spending in another way.”

Alberta universities have effectively had no tuition fee increases over the past five years — the last was a one-per-cent bump in 2014-15.

But that’s not to say revenue from tuition hasn’t increased.

Since 2012-13, student tuition at MacEwan has risen to $82 million this year from $74 million, thanks in part to increased enrolments, and now makes up 34 per cent of the university’s $238-million total operating budget.

The largest portion of its budget comes from an annual operating grant from government, which has dropped almost $900,000 to about $118 million in 2016-17 from about $119 million in 2012-13.

And MacEwan is not alone.

Photo by Ian Kucerak / Postmedia

According to a Canadian Centre of Policy Alternatives (CCPA) report last year, nationwide “government funding as a share of university operating revenue has declined from 77 per cent in 1992 to 55 per cent in 2012 while tuition fees as a share of university operating revenue increased from almost 20 per cent in 1992 to over 37 per cent in 2012.”