Memorial University ended the 2025-2026 fiscal year with its operating budget in the black, but there is still a long way to go.
The university recently posted its financial results for the last fiscal year online in the MUN Gazette, following the completion of an audit by the Auditor General.
The university began the year hoping to find over $20-million in savings, and while they didn’t hit that mark they did reduce spending by over $18-million. That includes the closure of the Office of Public Engagement in St. John’s as well as the Harris Centre, and some workforce changes.
For staff, a total of 20 positions were made redundant, five positions were eliminated, and 55 vacant jobs were cut.
For faculty, 39 vacant positions were cut and nine were eliminated through attrition. Other workforce changes also occurred due to the expiration of contracts.
Those efforts, combined with one-time savings, resulted in MUN ending the year with a “modest” operating fund surplus of $2.7-million.
While MUN calls that result “positive,” it “does not eliminate the growing gap between ongoing revenues and costs.” It says financial stability will require “difficult decisions” across many budget cycles.
Nearly half of MUN employees eligible for the institution’s Voluntary Retirement Program are taking the university up on the offer.
Last month, MUN accepted applications from a mix of administrative and academic employees for the program.
Forty-seven employees in total were approved, representing a 45 per cent uptake among those eligible.
All of those employees will retire by the end of the month, and MUN says that will result in $6 million in savings.
