Is TRU up the metaphorical creek without a paddle? Not yet, but it could be soon if a financial sustainability report presented at today’s Board of Governors is to be believed.
The report, presented to the board by university President Airini, Interim Provost and Vice-President Academic Shannon Wagner and Vice-President, Administration and Finance Matt Milovick, highlighted the challenges faced by TRU.
“Circumstances have changed dramatically (for the worse) since March 2025,” the report reads, adding that the university has “18-20 months to save” itself.
Speaking during the board meeting, Airini addressed the situation.
“Thompson Rivers University is experiencing…a significant revenue shock. We have a 26 per cent drop in international enrollment, driven by federal visa caps. And this has shifted our forecast from a surplus to a projected deficit of $8.3 million this year, and a $27 million deficit next year if no action is taken,” Airini said.
Following Airini’s remarks, VP Milovick was called upon to walk the board through the report’s findings. Adopting a cautious tone, Milovick told the board that while TRU’s financial future was in jeopardy, the worst possible outcomes were far from being absolute. Presenting a slide with multi-year projections, Milovick advised that if TRU could deal with the projected $23 million deficit during the 2026/27 fiscal year, then the following three years would likely be manageable. Still, he confirmed, the onus to turn things around rested squarely on the university and its ability to find savings.
“There is no help coming,” Milovick said. “No one is coming to [solve] our problem. The provincial government is not coming to [solve] our problem, the federal government is not coming to save us.”
Mentioning comments made this past spring by Premier David Eby, Milovick said that the province viewed the problem as being “too large to deal with,” and that “no amount of lobbying” the university can do at the provincial level would fix this problem.
“To be clear, we’re going to lobby everywhere, as hard as we can, for everything, but there is no answer to this problem that comes from the government,” Milovick said. “The international student enrollments have collapsed across the country. Some people still think this is a phenomenon located in Kamloops, British Columbia; it is not.” For now, students, faculty, staff members, and the broader community will have little recourse but to sit and wait while the future unfolds.