Following through on a previously-announced plan, the 2010 BC budget freezes government funding for public post-secondary institutions and student financial assistance programs for at least the next three years.

The government claims the strategy “protects” education, but faculty contend it merely hides ongoing cuts.

Paul Bowles, president of the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC, notes that costs of goods and services purchased by post-secondary institutions typically rise more quickly than consumer prices.

“Budget 2010 means that BC universities and colleges will have to find savings of about 3 to 4 per cent per year over the next three years,” says Bowles.

The cuts are unlikely to end there.Once the provincial government balances the budget, which it projects will be in 2013, it intends to use all surplus funds to pay down the provincial debt. This means that post-secondary funding could be frozen for more than five years.

Bowles predicts the situation will get worse as government downloads other costs to public post-secondary institutions. “Increased premiums for provincial medical insurance and increased electricity rates are the first of what may be many additional costs passed on to universities and colleges,” he says.

Cindy Oliver, president of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC, said the budget contradicts the provincial government’s stated aim to make British Colum-bians the best-educated people on the continent.

“BC urgently needs to increase access and opportunities for citizens wanting to start or complete a post-secondary education,” says Oliver. “We’re seeing our post-secondary institutions being forced to reduce access, programs and services at a time when all three should be increasing.”