Canada universities financially failing

I'd missed the story a few weeks ago. Laurentian University is insolvent. I just heard about it from some who are close to the academic scene. I guess a factor was a dangerous reliance on foreign students. With Covid-19, apparently a lot of that dried up. Regional high school enrollment has been in decline for a number of years, so there are fewer grade 12s incoming each year. 

They were heavily in debt was well apparently from a construction spree. Still, I'd heard of Laurentian, it's a first-tier university in Canada. So to declare insolvency, with the future by definition in doubt, seems like an important story. 

One news story from the time mentioned 60 years of history at Laurentian. that's not that much actually for a university. there are plenty of people alive today who were there the day Laurentian opened. it's probably the case that the number of universities opened in Ontario in the baby boom years of the 1960s is more than are needed today. Really, if Laurentian just closed its doors in May after exams what difference would it make. Students who are mid-degree could be easily absorbed into the numerous other Ontario universities.

the academics mentioned that here in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton University (CBU), is also highly reliant on foreign students, and their tuition. I don't have any visibility into CBUs finances as a result of Covid and travel restrictions, what if any shortfall there may be.

for CBU though, and the rest of Nova Scotia's universities, if it came to it (again I have no visibility into their finances and there have been no news stories, as far as I know everything is fine), there is a well established tradition when universities get into financial trouble. 

in 2011 NSCAD was bailed out. they were facing closure apparently after a bad real estate deal. in 2017 alone Acadia University was bailed out for over $10 million after a mysterious, massive hole apparently appeared in their budget. the running total for Acadia is now over $24 million. I've never seen an explanation over the $10 million shortfall. I guess the taxpayers are supposed to just shrug and accept it.

the truth is both NSCAD and Acadia should have just been left to close their doors due to the financial mismanagement. As with Laurentian, there is plenty of capacity to absorb any displaced students. there have been too many universities in Nova Scotia for a very long time now. if some just closed by their own mismanagement then its for the best in the long term.

I remember the Dr. Janet Halliwell years, a generation ago now. A good and smart woman. She noted there were too many universities in Nova Scotia. Alas she had little success consolidating campuses or programs. As in Northern Ontario, there are fewer grade 12s every single year in Nova Scotia too.

Universities tend to be long-lived. They cost a lot to establish, and once there, there is a sense of community, of generational continuity, of permanence. But they don't necessarily have to live forever. Maybe the public universities in Canada should move toward a model similar to private institutions. They can run well for a while, when they are most useful, when there are lots of students and opportunities for grads. Though they don't have to last forever. We have to recognize that even long-lived institutions can run their course.