Acadia receives $10.5M bailout from NS, avoids “more difficult decisions”

Newly released documents show that Acadia University has received a $10.5M bailout from the Nova Scotia government to avoid making cuts to its budget. Last Thursday, the province tabled the final fiscal numbers for 2016-17, which showed that Acadia requested and received a $3.5M increase in its operating grants, in addition to the forgiveness of a $7M provincial loan. Acadia President Peter Ricketts told media that the university has put in a lot of work to bring its finances back from “a very dire financial situation” that included significant budget cuts at a time when student enrolment was also declining. He added that without the help, Acadia would have been faced with “many more difficult decisions.” Ricketts noted that the school's finances are now in good condition. CBC