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Each year, the university compiles an operations forecast outlining its planned expenditures and funding requirements. The 2018-19 document was approved by the university’s board of governors and submitted to the provincial Ministry of Advanced Education last month.

The College of Medicine, which costs about $93 million to run each year, is expected to come up $17 million short next year, a deficit that will be added to $40 million of accumulated red ink. Its financial situation was “exacerbated” by the province’s decision to claw back $20 million in funding in 2015-16 and 2016-17, according to the report.

“Had those funds not been withheld, the (college) would have been able to mitigate this challenge over a two- to three-year period,” the report stated. “Even with the unsustainable repurposing of $20 million of university funds, as directed in the 2017-18 funding letter from (the government), we are still well short of adequate funding for an accredited college of medicine.”

Outgoing U of S provost Michael Atkinson said Monday that the college’s woes represent a significant portion of the university’s “dire” financial situation. At the same time, he said the college is at least partly to blame for its ballooning deficit, largely because it has been very slow to adopt a new community-based education model that makes use of part-time faculty.

The college, which has twice been placed on probation by accreditation authorities, is restructuring with the aim of renewing its accreditation in October. Atkinson said while the college expects to “pass muster” on most of the criteria, its administrators are very concerned about its ability to remain financially viable over the long term.