Is money the answer?

University of Calgary stake- holders are alarmed about a discrepency in funding provided to Alberta universities.


According to U of C Vice-President External Roman Cooney claimed the University of Alberta currently recieves $7,760 per full-time student equivalent per year while the U of C recieves $6,710 and the University of Lethbridge receives $6,740 from the provincial government.


Katrina Bluetchen, a spokesperson for Alberta Learning said the difference is due to programs.


"U of A offers variety of programs like dentistyr, agriculture and pharmacy," said Bluetchen. "It makes to give money to the U of A because their programs are more expensive.


Bluetchen added U of L recieves less than U of A and U of C according to Alberta Learning numbers.


Cooney wonders if the funding formula actually captures the cost of running a university.


"We’re looking at a minimum of $25 million [gap] which would go a long way of improving quality," said Cooney. "A bit of a gap is questionable but whether there is an entire cap is the question."

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