New funding deals sent to N.S. universities, but no word on tuition cap

Nova Scotia’s Department of Advanced Education says new funding proposals have been sent to the province’s 10 universities, which have until the end of next week to sign on.

However, deputy minister Tracey Barbrick wouldn’t tell reporters today whether a tuition cap will be included as part of the deals for fiscal 2025-26, saying the caps are subject to ongoing discussions with universities.

Last year the government capped tuition increases for undergraduate students at two per cent, and required most schools to raise tuition for international students a minimum of nine per cent.

Barbrick told the legislature’s public accounts committee today that a complicating factor for new funding is the low number of foreign students who studied in the province last year.

Officials say somewhere in the vicinity of 6,000 of the 20,000 foreign students who were eligible under federal rules to study in Nova Scotia actually registered.

Meanwhile, Barbrick says all of the schools met the conditions placed on their funding last year and received full allocations from the province.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 9, 2025.