NORTH BAY -- The Ontario government providing more emergency funding for universities and colleges across the province as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
On Friday, the province announced $106.4 million to help make sure students continue to get the skills and education they need.
“Post-secondary institutions are critical to the prosperity of our province and local communities and will contribute significantly to our economic recovery,” said Minister of Colleges and Universities Ross Romano in a media release. “Post-secondary institutions are a key source of job creation, skills training, research, and innovation.”
The funding is expected to help offset pandemic-related costs, including those associated with online learning, personal protective equipment and enhanced cleaning.
Nipissing University president Cheryl Sutton said the $2.9 million will be a huge help.
“We’ve had to address challenges of significant change, uncertainty and really broad financial repercussions. The funding announced today is critical,” Sutton said.
Canadore College received $5.5 million in funding.
End is in sight
“The end of the pandemic is in sight, but we’re not there yet,” said president George Burton. “We’ll continue to evolve and take advice from the medical community on again, ratios in our classrooms and labs, we’ll continue to evolve our hybrid delivery as possible.”
Institutions are able to use the funding in 2020-21 to offset COVID-19 expenses related to student financial supports and human resources.
“COVID-19 has impacted some institutions more severely than others,” said Romano. “That’s why we are providing target support to the institutions most impacted.”
In total, colleges across the province received a total of $62.4 million in funding with Centennial College in Toronto receiving the most at $8.4 million.
Meanwhile, universities saw a total of $44 million with Brock bringing in the largest amount at $7.9 million and a handful of schools receiving less than one million.
The full breakdown of funding can be found here.
