Frequently Asked Questions

Our largest category of spending remains salary and benefit costs. We continue to focus on reducing expenses in a way that protects core academic and research activity, and seeks to limit the impact on our people.

As we move forward, we remain committed to minimizing further layoffs by redeploying affected individuals to open positions, identifying efficiencies, streamlining processes, and exploring new sources of revenue. Our voluntary retirement incentive programs in 2024 and 2025 were accepted by a total of 122 employees, including 75 faculty members, 29 staff, and 18 union staff. Since the start of 2025, fewer than 50 people have lost their positions as a result of budget reductions. In total (as of October 31, 2025), the University has eliminated 165 staff positions and 49 faculty positions, with most reductions achieved through voluntary programs, attrition, and the hiring freeze.

Salaries are set through collective agreements and agreements with the Staff Association and FAUW. The University will honour the obligations in current agreements and continue good faith bargaining processes for future agreements. 

Your pensions are secure. The quarterly pension risk management dashboard, prepared by Aon, the pension actuary, and reviewed by the Pension & Benefits Committee shows that the pension is in a surplus position on a going concern basis as of September 30, 2024 (the market value of investments is greater than the estimated actuarial liabilities).  

The registered plan that holds the investments is a separate entity from the University and it is governed by Ontario pension legislation. Assets are invested to meet the pension obligations. Both the pension investments and the pension obligations are monitored regularly and overseen by committees with a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interests of plan members and retirees to ensure the financial health and stability of the pension plan.   

We’ve already been making progress toward working more efficiently together. We have a clear vision in Waterloo at 100 that lays the foundation for rediscovering unconventional approaches and prioritizing collaboration. The Provost’s Advisory Committee on Building a Resilient University offered constructive suggestions for long-term sustainability, emphasizing that resilience requires coherent "One Waterloo" structures. The Employee Engagement Survey also indicated a strong desire as a community to enhance collaboration and improve operational efficiencies. These efforts and initiatives will continue to help us as we navigate change and budget constraints.  

We also need to continue to work across units to manage vacancies and share the load. Some units have been more affected than others with recent retirements, leaves, and absences. Leaders and teams should continue discussions about work priorities to evaluate what work is being done, and to change the way we have always done things where required. 

The hiring freeze is still in effect, which means that all hiring for faculty and staff positions is on hold with very limited exceptions. Externally funded positions will be exempt from the hiring freeze. There will continue to be careful review of required positions for ancillary services and positions funded through student fees.   

In some parts of the University, involuntary separations have already happened but who and when is at the discretion of the departments and units.  

There are many teams of leaders supporting the President, Provost, and the Vice-President, Administration and Finance in this work. We are a complex organization and  rely on the knowledge, skills, and experience of unit heads to guide and implement strategic change at the local level.   

Continuing with secondments is something that host units will determine on a needs basis and cannot provide guarantees that jobs that are vacant while someone is on secondment will continue to exist. 

Positions may be eliminated only through an approved, policy‑compliant organizational change process. Should this occur while an employee is working elsewhere on secondment, the employee will be notified and our obligations under policy 18 will commence when the secondment ends.  

Keeping focused on our shared vision for Waterloo’s future is crucial to making good choices. Achieving the vision of Waterloo at 100, and managing our current situation, requires that we rely on our values, now more than ever. We must continue to think differently, act with purpose, and work together to support each other and find solutions.  

Senior administrators have been engaging with leaders across the University (such as the Staff Association, Council of Academic Leaders, Leadership Forum, and more) to equip them with information they need to manage change and support their teams.  

And the University will continue to invest in the staff conference, staff career counselling program, the Employee and Family Assistance Program (for employees), and the The Wellness Collaborative which addresses employee and student wellbeing with a range of initiatives, often tailored to local needs. We encourage you to seek these supports, and be kind, patient, and supportive of each other. 

It's clear that everyone is committed to working more efficiently and finding savings while focusing on the work and experiences that make a Waterloo education special. 

We will continue to prioritize work central to our mission and maintain our quality of education while finding operational and organizational efficiencies. This will mean some services and activities will stop.  

We have worked with Staff Association to extend the period where staff who are subject to involuntary separations are afforded “internal status” for an extra six months after their departure – depending on eligibility, this could be up to two years. We have also worked with the Staff Relations Committee, who engage with individuals if their role is affected by a reduction, to evaluate skills and look for opportunities for reassignment. Supports are available from the Employee and Family Assistance Program and through staff career counselors. 

Leaders continue to be briefed on the budget process and timelines, so that they can cascade the right information for your unit at the right time. If you have questions about what’s happening in your area, please talk to your unit head.  

We’ve shared information and updates and will continue to update this website as changes are implemented. In the meantime, please continue to share suggestions and questions though budget@uwaterloo.ca.

There are two factors that seem to have contributed to a small increase in tuition revenue in 2024 compared to the initial budget estimates: slightly more continuing students than budgeted and slightly higher new student intake domestically. However, lower than expected international student intake this term more than offsets this for future years. The additional domestic students do not draw government grants because we are above our corridor set by the provincial government. 

The tuition setting process ensures the following factors are considered, and that the proposed tuition fee increases are appropriate to the current financial environment: 
  

• Changes to provincial policies, in particular the provincial tuition fee framework, changes to provincial operating grant support, and any related policy changes, 

• Overall institutional operating costs including inflationary pressures and compensation agreements, 

• Waterloo’s rates compared with similar programs offered at other institutions within Ontario, and beyond, 

• The value of a Waterloo degree, both overall and in specific program areas, and 

• The demand for Waterloo programs nationally and internationally.

No additional staff voluntary retirement incentives are currently planned.

Yes. We continue to review executive salaries and will evaluate options over the next three years and beyond. The hiring freeze also affects senior positions, and we will ensure that the same scrutiny is applied when these roles become vacant, especially senior administrator roles. 

Coordination across all areas with senior leaders ensures a broad view across our shared University priorities and a systematic approach to dealing with employee groups. We remain committed to the work we have started with President’s Anti-racism Taskforce (PART) and Indigenous reconciliation, and our prior work on addressing systemic inequalities.   

The Academic Innovation Working Group is working with faculties on best practices for achieving efficiencies in program development and deployment.   

We have shared our challenges with revenue and expenses and it’s clear that we have some significant work to do. With six labour groups at different stages of their current agreements, negotiations are ongoing. Our current budget situation will be central to these upcoming negotiations.  

Three years gives us the opportunity to strategically deploy current resources to help us work towards balancing our budget.   

We’ve also implemented cost controls and budget holdbacks every year since 2019 to offset the impact of government restrictions, and our reserve funds cannot support us beyond this three-year window. This will be a highly iterative process – not three separate one-year plans – and we’ll continue to be vigilant and flexible as we develop rolling plans.   

The University fund is an important strategic reserve that we use to fund priorities and projects. But like all of our one-time funds, this money is earmarked for projects and work we need to complete to stay competitive and achieve our goals. Once they are gone and we remove our ability to meet the needs they were allotted for in the future.  

The University continues to meet its financial obligations and is maintaining reserves that we are drawing down. These reserves are one-time resources, designated for risk and transition, strategic priorities, and much is already committed to research support, essential IT infrastructure renewal and capital projects

We are exploring getting a credit rating from an independent credit ratings agency, which is the first step in allowing us to take on external debt. There are very specific use cases for taking on external debt, and servicing a structural deficit is not one of them. 

We’ve shared a high-level projection of what our budget looks like now to achieve balance, and given that costs are expected to rise, there will likely be further reductions needed next year and the year after. However, innovation action initiatives (such as the functional reviews and internal working group projects) will provide strategic guidance on how to minimize the impact any changes will have on employees.

Waterloo prides itself on its spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship and we’re looking all options on how to optimize and generate further revenue through the work of the Innovation Action Group and the Academic Innovation Working Group.

The financial situation we are facing is serious and requires prompt attention. The decision to engage Nous Data Insights is based on a need for benchmarking data and expertise within the higher education sector. Nous is able to provide the services within a short time frame.   

We have chosen to work with a partner who can bring deep experience in the Canadian post-secondary sector to provide data and insights to senior leaders in their decision-making.    

Simultaneously, the Innovation Action Group and the Academic Innovation Working Group bring the amazing expertise we have in our community to bear on the challenges that we face. The external consultant reports, and in particular, the UniForum benchmarking data are essential inputs for the work of these two groups.      

Nous Data Insights (NDI) does not make decisions related to the University’s finances or structures. NDI has engaged with groups and teams across the institution to gather information and feedback from employees to get a clear picture of the current state of various functions. Coupled with data from UniForum, we are using these inputs to assess the true cost and capacity for delivering administrative functions across the University and to inform senior leader’s decision making. 

The President and Vice-President group agreed to conduct reviews of the Finance, IT, and Marketing and Communications functions based on size, impact, and risks related to these areas. After consultation with other universities, leadership within the functions selected, and consideration of procurement and timing options, Nous Data Insights was selected as the consultant to provide services related to the initial reviews.

Members of Executive Councill were consulted by the President, Provost and VP, Admin and Finance on the decision to join UniForum; Executive Council Members supported the decision to join UniForum to support senior leaders’ ability to make strategic decisions rooted in data that is informed by global peers. 

UniForum is a collaborative program co-governed by the members of the program who come together to share their data and lessons learned for the combined benefit of the sector. Universities who are part of UniForum have repurposed up to 6 per cent of their expense from administration to teaching and research. They have also increased the effectiveness rating academic and professional staff give the services they use. UniForum has enabled its members to enhance programs, make strategic research investments, and attract leading faculty to significantly improve their world rankings.

Yes. Senior leaders have been in touch with other universities including at U15, Universities Canada and the Council of Ontario Universities where they shared their experiences and feedback about many issues, including working with Nous Data Insights and UniForum.   

The President, Provost, and VPAF, their advisors and senior leaders of the teams undergoing the functional review are responsible for making decisions about budget, taking into account the information received from Nous Data Insights. The results of these surveys have now been shared with University leadership for their review and consideration. UniForum offers tools for senior leaders that provide access to the data collected, highlighting key findings that could be areas of interest for deeper analysis and allowing us to compare service-level satisfaction with the level of investment.

Faculty, staff and students can share their thoughts about all decisions around the budget by emailing budget@uwaterloo.ca .

The work of the Functional Review Implementation Teams (FRITs), including work related to the Communications and Marketing, Finance, and IT, is still underway. While each review is at a different stage, all are focused on reducing duplication, strengthening service quality, and supporting a more coordinated administrative model across the University.   

As these reviews are completed, we will start similar reviews of other administrative areas. As part of these processes, we are seeking to obtain appropriate benchmark data on administrative operations to compare to peer institutions. 

The reviews include engagement with stakeholders from across the campus in support of each function and will conclude with a report to senior leaders. 

All budget decisions will follow standard paths through governance bodies.

The University community can refer to the dedicated website for progress and updates on the budget. We have also been sharing updates through email and the Daily Bulletin to ensure that this information reaches faculty, staff, and students. We have also opened a dedicated email (budget@uwaterloo.ca) to ensure that anyone in our community can share their feedback with us at any time.  

The way that the University runs is enshrined in the University of Waterloo Act. This will not change. 

Our focus in partnering with UniForum is to obtain  data and best practices which senior leaders can use to inform strategic decision-making to ensure we are as efficient and effective in our operations and to support balancing our operating budget and reach financial sustainability.  
  
We are faced with serious financial challenges that require us to look critically and carefully at all parts of the institution to make changes that will support the delivery of our core mission now and into the future. This work is just one part of a range of initiatives designed to help us transform the way we operate.

Our initial commitment to UniForum is for a two-year period with the option to extend in the future. We will evaluate the program carefully in the first two years to determine whether an extension is warranted.

UniForum provides benchmarking information using our own data to assess the cost and capacity for delivering admin functions across the University and allows comparison with peer institutions. This requires looking at the end-to-end delivery cost of a particular function (e.g., finance, IT, research administration) broken into the transactional activities of the function and the non-transactional activities of the function, and where functions take place across the University. The survey also assesses satisfaction of users with functional areas. The UniForum methodology was developed by academics with relevant expertise and has been modified and improved over time with the participation of greater numbers of institutions.     

It enables senior leaders to better understand how Waterloo compares with our peers who are also participating in the benchmarking exercise. Universities within the UniForum collection have over time been able to improve the delivery of administrative services and to redirect spending from administrative activities into the core mission of the University — teaching and research.

Yes. The mix of universities participating in the program is diverse in terms of scale, research intensity and discipline. This allows for appropriate comparisons to be made. In its methodology, UniForum normalizes for these differences across the comparator set.

UniForum is a proprietary service provided by NousCubane. As such it does not publish details of its methodology for review, however the statistical approach has been validated by academics at a UK Russel Group in the past. Data on individual institutional identifiers is protected through the agreements with each institution so the raw data are not publicly available. UniForum was established by a former VP of Finance and Operations at the University of New South Wales in Australia, and by a former academic and research scientist. The experiences that we have heard about from other universities reassures us that their approach follows practices and approaches that are common amongst social scientists. 

UniForum has defined parameters in their benchmarking data to ensure accurate comparability across institutions of similar size and focus. The SES group is standardized across all participating institutions and consists of mid-to-senior level faculty and employees, who are selected based on their experience with people, processes, and systems across multiple services during their day-to-day responsibilities.   

Selection for the Activity Collection is based on UniForum’s defined parameters of employees who perform administrative functions (excluding faculty) to ensure an accurate mapping for comparison with other institutions. 

The results of the SES will identify the areas of strength and areas for improvement of services based on the campus community’s feedback. Larger sample sizes and high response rates reduce the margin of error of the survey results and give us more robust data to help in decision-making. A high participation rate will also allow us to gain a deeper understanding of how changes in our administrative processes impact our overarching mission year over year, providing the University with a longitudinal viewpoint. 

If you have questions about the selection process, please email uniforum@uwaterloo.ca.

Aggregated data from both the Service Effectiveness Survey and the Activity Collection are shared over multiple years among members in the UniForum program to allow universities to track trends over time. Universities who participate in the UniForum program agree to share data with each other for benchmarking purposes, and that this data will only be shared through methods and tools facilitated through Nous Data Insights. For additional information please visit Nous Data Insight’s Privacy Notice.