Every fall, the Government of Alberta begins crafting a plan for the next fiscal year, detailing what it expects to spend and the revenue it expects to make. Before this budget is finalized in February, a consultation window runs between December and January to accept input from Albertans and Albertan organizations.
Your Students' Union typically shares recommendations with the province a little earlier, shortly after the fall semester starts. Last year, we made recommendations as part of a team including UCalgary's very own Graduate Students' Association (GSA), suggesting, among other things, a renewal of the Post-Secondary Mental Health Grant. When Budget 2025 launched, we were thankful to see the province continue investment in on-campus mental health support.
This year, we've teamed up with the GSA once again, as well as the Students' Association of Bow Valley College, to convey the concerns we three Calgary-based students' associations hear most often from students. After all, Albertan learners have a lot in common: whether they're completing a certificate or a master's, all will grapple with educational affordability or difficulties finding somewhere to live. That's why we're delivering your concerns straight to the decision-makers in our pre-Budget 2026 submission. Click the button below to access our recommendations in full, or read on to find them in summary form.
Modern economies rely upon post-secondary institutions to conduct research and produce a skilled workforce, yet Alberta's have seen their budgets steadily cut since 2019. Our campuses now self-generate 60% of their revenue, even though domestic enrolment has stagnated. With fewer students to share the burden through economies of scale, Albertans are taking on more debt than ever while post-secondaries are forced to operate like businesses. This is to the detriment of both education quality and Alberta's future productivity.
We recommend...
- Restore unrestricted base operating grants for our post-secondaries to their 2018-19 funding levels, adjusted for inflation.
The province committed to more non-repayable student aid in 2021, but since then, the share of Alberta Student Aid (ASA) dollars disbursed as grants or awards has declined, while the value of some scholarships lags far behind inflation. Compounding matters is that ASA is one of the last provincial student aid bodies to charge loan interest, and diploma and bachelor's students don't qualify for its Grant for Full-Time Students. Furthermore, ASA uses federal income thresholds, without accounting for Alberta's cost of living being 5% higher than the national average for 10+ years.
We recommend...
- Freeze interest accrual on Alberta Student Loans for students in every type of PSE program for 12 months.
- Extend eligibility for the Grant for Full-Time Students to first-year diploma and bachelor’s students, increasing the maximum and income thresholds by 5% for the next three budget cycles.
- Review all Scholarships and Awards to adjust them for inflation since the time of each one's introduction.
At a time when reading lists can cost hundreds dollars, and it's getting harder to tell falsehoods from fact online, students would benefit from free learning resources that have been vetted by experts. OERs (open-source materials that faculty can create and tailor to student needs) fit this bill, and other provinces have already created successful OER platforms. Many leaders in education estimate that with a grant of around $10,000, experts and faculty can create open-source resources that can be updated perpetually.
We recommend...
- Institute a $1 million grant fund, disbursed as grants of $10,000 to faculty, to facilitate creating 100 OERs by educators at our public post-secondaries.
Graduate students are not only key drivers of innovation; they conduct a large amount of research and teaching activities on our campuses, too. Once they graduate, they are key players in knowledge transfer to private industry, boosting our economy. Despite this, Alberta struggles more than most provinces to attract and retain these students, at a time when other regions are heavily investing in graduate student research. Alberta has an opportunity to launch its own graduate funding model for research excellence.
We recommend...
- Establish a merit-based, scholarship program that rewards research excellence for domestic and international thesis-based graduate students, and encourage coursework evaluation reform to reward excellence in non-thesis based programs.
Experts agree that more purpose-built student housing would ease Canada's housing shortage. Students wouldn't have to compete with other demographics for units near their campuses; in turn, students would reap the affordability and academic benefits of living in residence. Furthermore, Alberta's existing tenant protections can't help students who face unfair rent hikes. Learners whose institutions lack residences feel this more than most, as do students with dependents. That's why we recommend funding more non-profit developers and institutions to meet a broad range of needs.
We recommend...
- Adopt Quebec’s acceptable adjustments model and expand RTDRS staffing to hear rent hike cases.
- Institute an affordable student housing construction fund, with provisions for students whose campuses do not have residences, and students who have dependents.
The above could change as the official consultation window draws closer, especially as we're expecting the findings of the Expert Panel on Post-Secondary Institution Funding and Alberta’s Competitiveness soon. (To read the SU's submission to this panel, see this post.) The Panel's recommendations may address or alter some of the suggestions we make in December-January, and if that happens, you'll be the first to know.