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The university's overall consolidated budget is $1.1 billion for 2025-26. A significant portion of the budget ($251.9 million) is ‘restricted’ funding from government agencies, donors or companies. These restricted funds are controlled by the government and allocated for specific purposes such as research, student support, endowments, and capital projects.

Outside of the restricted funds, the university's operating budget is $747.6 million for 2025-26 and is primarily funded by government operating grants (44%), tuition and student fees (51%), and unrestricted revenues (5%). The unrestricted revenues can be flexibly used for various operational needs. Operational expenses include various expenses, including student support (undergraduate and graduate scholarships and bursaries), student services, academic program delivery, and day-to-day operating and administrative costs such as IT, utilities, maintenance, and janitorial services.

We are anticipating another tight budget cycle. New changes in government policies, particularly those affecting international student enrolment and visa regulations, continue to cause uncertainty. This will influence the budget for this year and future years. Much work has been done by many across SFU to minimize the impact of these challenges, but the ongoing change continues to have an impact.

As we look ahead,  a one-time gain from the final part of divestment from fossil fuels will help ensure we are balanced in the next fiscal. However, we anticipate an operating budget pressure of $20M for next year resulting in a budget cut for most units in 2025-26. Roughly 80% of this year’s deficit is directly linked to the drop in international enrolment. The decision about how to manage those budget reductions will be made by individual units and faculties.

Most of the operating expense budget (74 percent) goes toward compensation for the university's faculty, staff, and students. The remainder of the budget (26 percent) is allocated to supplies and various expenses such as student support (including undergraduate and graduate scholarships, awards and bursaries), improving IT infrastructure, maintaining facilities, renewal and acquisition of the library's collection, among other initiatives. 

• Fiscal Year End & Outlook Updated: Financial results from the previous year are reported, and the financial projections for the next year are updated.
• Campus Conversations: Meetings regarding budgets and priorities are held, student feedback is gathered on fees and priorities, and options are considered.
• Development: Priorities are established and resources are designated. Detailed budgets are developed for departments across the university, reviewed and approved by those with fiscal responsibility for the areas (such as Chairs, Directors, Deans and VPs).
• Review and Approval: Budgets are collected, reviewed and then sent to SFU’s Board of Governors for approval.
  

The Budget Office has a dual reporting structure, reporting to both the Provost and Vice President, Academic, and the Vice-President, Finance and Administration. This transition to shared responsibility for the university budget and budget process will ensure that financial and operational decisions at SFU are made through an academic lens.  

The budget process is a collaboration between the Office of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic, the Office of the Vice-President, Finance and Administration and supporting administrative units. SFU follows a decentralized budget model, meaning that the faculties and supporting units are responsible for ensuring they have a balanced budget within their portfolio.  

As of December 2023, the university has established a Chief Budget Officer role, which will be held by the Provost, establishing the Provost as the primary executive responsible for the university’s budget. This role is accountable for developing a budget strategy and realizing investment and revenue generation opportunities, including those related to systems transformation, enhanced research teaching and learning supports, and internationalization.

During the annual planning cycle (September – October), SFU actively engages with key internal groups and provides information sessions for the upcoming budget cycle for faculty and staff. These information sessions allow teams to engage more fully with the budget leads within their portfolios who develop their team’s budgets. The budget allocations are finalized in November.

The primary aim of the process is ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of SFU, prioritizing the academic mission, student experience and financial support, and the university’s ability to deliver on the priorities outlined in the SFU What’s Next strategy.

The budget is informed by critical economic and political factors, risk assessments, and the University Act. Global conflicts, shortfalls in international enrollments and increased inflation present key challenges for SFU as it plans for 2024-25.  

SFU continues to provide outstanding student experience and support for students in need. For every $1 in tuition fees collected, roughly 75 cents go to the academic mission (teaching, research, and student support), and 25 cents to provide educational facilities and services (heat, electricity, etc.).

We actively seek opportunities to address student affordability challenges and minimize increases to tuition fees. Finding cost savings for students continues to be a priority for this budget. 

A student affordability committee comprised of eight members of the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) and Graduate Student Society (GSS) (in addition to four university administrative staff) meets twice a year to explore solutions on various affordability-related topics such as food security, housing, access to affordable transit, access to course materials, etc.

91��ܽ addressing students' financial challenges by increasing the 2024-25 budget for scholarships, bursaries, and awards by $2.4 million. 

Out of a total budget of $56.2 million, the university’s operating budget provides support of $34.8M, and external funding provides the remaining $21.4 million.

Also, the additional $4.3 million graduate student funding – Board of Governors approved - for graduate student scholarship funding in 2024-25, was included in the budget.  

Students with demonstrated financial need are encouraged to apply for the general SFU bursary program each term. Please refer to student services for details on the application process and key dates.

Over 800+ scholarships, awards, and bursaries can be found in our .

You can easily search which of SFU’s financial aid funding opportunities you may qualify for by narrowing down your search using different criteria:

• Undergraduate or Graduate
• Type of assistance
• Faculty
• Term of study
• Citizenship status
• Recipient (e.g., Indigenous, mature students, etc.)

SFU does not receive provincial support for international students, so the total costs of delivering these programs and services are reflected in the tuition fees. Many factors are considered when setting fees, including student affordability, how it influences students' choices, what programs SFU hopes to grow, comparative fees at other institutions, and institutional and individual inflation pressures.

SFU supports international students through bursaries and is one of the few Canadian schools to do so. Moreover, our graduate programs don't have differential fees for international students except in a few instances.

The provincial government has allocated 83,000 undergraduate study permits for B.C., with 53% designated for public post-secondary institutions. SFU’s allocation ensures we can continue delivering on our Strategic Enrollment Plan, increasing the international student population while maintaining a strong academic and student experience.

International students are an integral part of the SFU community, contributing diverse global perspectives to learning, research, teaching, and work. 91��ܽ committed to providing a high-quality education and the necessary support to help international students succeed.

It might look like a big number in financial reports, but it is a common misunderstanding is that an accumulated surplus is extra money sitting around; the money is actually already spent or committed to specific things. 

In SFU’s case, the accumulated surplus is a cumulative pool (from past years as well as the current year) of financial resources reserved for things like building upgrades across SFU’s three campuses, research initiatives, or other future funding commitments. 

Within SFU’s accumulated surplus are the following: 

• Endowment funds - these restricted funds typically represent more than 50% of SFU’s accumulated surplus. An endowment fund is a permanent fund where donors contribute to the capital, but only the investment income from the principal is spent on activities such as student scholarships, research, and other projects and programs made possible through the generosity of donors. The intent of this type of funding is to provide a sustainable, long-term funding that "keeps on giving" year after year. As only a portion can be spent annually, there will always be a large pools of funds noted under endowments. 
• Capital assets – these funds are to support systems and buildings, and represent funds already spent. 
• Restricted funds – these funds may be a surplus and not yet spent for the year, but they are committed to certain projects (ie. a research project fund over several years). Restricted funds will be spend in future years under the designated projects they have already been committed to. These funds allow the university to invest in one-time priorities. Considerations for how to spend these funds come out of annual budget consultations and are guided by the university’s priorities.

As SFU has endowment funds, and aging infrastructure and buildings up to 60 years old, the university will always have an accumplated surplus each year. While the goal for a balanced budget is to break even, with annual revenues covering annual operating expenses, a healthy accumulated surplus signals strong fiscal management and investment in infrastructure to support long term sustainability of an organization.

It’s also important to note that even if there were some uncommitted funds in an accumulated surplus, SFU still cannot use them to cover day-to-day expenses like salaries, utilities, or supplies. That’s because of a rule called the Balanced Budget Mandate.

In British Columbia, universities are mandated to operate with a balanced budget, meaning their annual operating revenues must equal their yearly operating expenditures. This means the revenue expected in a given year, needs to cover the annual costs required to run the university (salaries, benefits, utility costs, supplies, etc.). This requirement is enforced by the , though universities operate under the   accounting framework, which provides funding and establishes financial policies. 

Therefore, if SFU expects to earn $1 million this year (revenue), it can only spend up to $1 million this year on operating costs (expenses). We can’t dip into other accounts to spend more in operating funds. We need to operate within our means. If we could borrow from other funds, that would increase the operating costs beyond the expected revenue and would count as a deficit, which is not allowed, nor is that sustainable as the university may not be able to cover the same amount for operating costs in future years. 

When it comes to determining faculty and staff compensation, what matters is the state of the operating budget — because these are funds that are actually available to pay university employees. 

BC's universities are legislatively prohibited from incurring debt, therefore careful budget management and ensuring budgets align with existing revenue sources is critical. Because of these different rules and restrictions, SFU can show a surplus in our audited financial statements and still have an operating deficit.

So even though it may sounds like an “accumulated surplus” is money that could be used, those funds are either:

• Already spent or committed to something specific, or
• Not allowed to be used for annual expenses (salaries, day-to-day operating costs)

Endowments are funded by donations, with the donors specifying the intended use of these funds. The uses can range from research, scholarships and bursaries to teaching & learning, athletics, and community engagement.

Therefore, while SFU's endowment funds can offer financial support in certain areas and indirectly reduce financial pressure from the institution's operating budget, the university cannot directly use them to offset budget concerns unless those concerns relate to the donor-specified uses of the endowment funds.

Various internal and external factors may impact SFU's financial outcomes. The university monitors these risks as part of its ongoing financial and operational diligence. As part of its mitigation strategy within the operating budget, SFU maintains a contingency fund at just under 2% of total operating revenues. This contingency is distinct from the university's reserves, which are separate financial instruments reported on the balance sheet. The contingency fund provides flexibility to address in-year pressures and opportunities within the approved budget framework.

With lower enrollments and rising costs, we expect the next few years to be about budget restraint. We must collaborate across all the university departments and contribute to cost-saving measures, as 91��ܽ required to end the fiscal year with a balanced budget. We will continue to focus on making smart financial decisions, exploring cost-saving opportunities, finding efficiencies and strategically allocating resources to ensure our institution's long-term financial stability and growth.

91��ܽ also committed to the benchmarking program (UniForum@SFU) that compares our administrative costs to similar institutions in Canada and internationally. Now in its fourth year, this program supports resource shifting rather than resource elimination to drive improvement and reduce spending.