UFV forecasts budget increase, despite international student drop

The University of the Fraser Valley doesn’t expect a dip in international enrolment to force dramatic budget cuts.

New caps on international students have led to drops in the enrolment of foreign students, , whose tuition fees heavily subsidize the education of Canadian students. That has caused some Canadian universities to plan for large spending cuts. But although the University of the Fraser Valley is also set to tighten its budget, a new draft budget shows it expects to retain most of its foreign students and tuition revenue.

Meanwhile, the same budget, which is no longer visible to the general public, shows that UFV’s new student housing project is behind schedule, with completion no longer expected by this summer.

The new budget, unlike the old budget

The draft budget, which was posted online last week but has since been removed from UFV’s website, shows the university is expecting to increase spending 2.7% over the coming year. Last year, UFV boosted spending by 18% on the back of a dramatic increase in international student enrolment and more funding from the provincial government to cover increased expenses and salaries for faculty and staff. The previous years saw 4% and 2.4% spending increases, respectively

(We have posted the 2025-2026 draft budget here. Previous years’ budgets can be found here: 2024-2025 | 2023-2024 | 2022-2023)

Although the federal government has cut the number of study permits it is issuing to international students by one-third, UFV is only predicting a slight decline in foreign learners. The university expects international enrolment to dip by about 100 students, to approximately 2,100 foreign learners. Although that drop will leave a $1.2 million hole in UFV’s budget, other universities are anticipating far greater impacts. At Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, officials originally planned to slash spending by as much as $10 million thanks to an expected decrease of 400 international students. Those cuts have now been scaled back, but officials still expect to reduce spending by more than $4 million.

At UFV, an increase in local students for next year, combined with higher tuition fees, are expected to cover most of the shortfall. UFV also expects to get about $2 million more from the provincial government. (Those governmental grants are tied to enrolment.)

“UFV is strategically poised in a sustainable position,” the budget states, pointing to enrolment targets that attempt to cap international share of students at 30% of the overall student population.

Tuition fee increases are capped by the provincial government and have risen by 2% annually for existing students in recent years. But UFV has hit newer students with larger rate hikes. For the second straight year, UFV will look to increase the tuition that incoming students pay by 5%. Students that enrolled last year will pay 2.9% more for each credit. Other students will see their tuition rise by 3%.

Although UFV does expect to spend about $5 million more next year, almost none of that money will go towards paying faculty and instructors, where expenditures are only forecast to rise by only $200,000. UFV’s contract with its faculty and staff union also expires at the end of this month.

Instead, the increased spending will be mostly divided between academic and student support services, facilities and security, and administration. The administration budget is set to rise by about 8%, year-over-year. By next year, UFV will be spending 34% more on administration and community engagement activities than it did in 2023-24.

The budget document remains a draft and is subject to potential revisions. Budgets are also often adjusted if enrolment levels are higher or lower than expected.