Sault College President David Orazietti spent much of Monday addressing staff in a series of three town hall meetings.
In a phone interview on Monday, Orazietti discussed challenges facing the college following a dramatic reduction in its allocation of international student permits. Since the federal government announced those changes, Sault College has suspended 16 programs.
Orazietti said his key message shared with employees at the town halls was one of preservation.
"We want everyone to know that our administration is working very hard to protect as many jobs as possible and preserve as many programs as possible at the college under what are very challenging financial circumstances," Orazietti said.
He noted that while many post-secondary institutions across Canada are facing similar challenges, Sault College had particularly high exposure—with international enrolment peaking at 2,800 students and generating approximately $40 million in revenue.
Numerous internal emails recently shared with SooToday show Sault College has been reducing some of its administrative staff, especially those associated with the recruitment of international students.
In the interview, Orazietti said the dramatic reduction in permits helped lead to the difficult financial position the college currently finds itself in.
Last year, Sault College presented a budget with a $5.7 million deficit to its board. The province has taken the extraordinary step of allowing the college two years to present a balanced budget.
"The expectation as a transfer partner of the province is to balance our budget in-year and that's what we work to do every year, but given the extraordinary circumstances we're in, we are still trying to do that," said Orazietti.
Staff are working diligently to balance the budget by the board's June 5 meeting, but Orazietti acknowledges the college may continue to run a deficit.
"It might be necessary to present something slightly different to the board, but I don't want to speculate on that until we know for certain," he said.
In response to some of his critics who reached out to SooToday, Orazietti said the college would still face the same challenges that it does now even if there was a different president.
"Regardless of who is in this role, the federal policies that have been set and the deficit doesn't change. The $40 million that we don't have any longer from our public private partnership isn't here," said Orazietti.
"I think my work in advocacy in relation to my track record of the past and advocating for resources for our college has been effective and has resulted in positive results for this college and for our community."
One criticism SooToday heard is the amount of money being spent on renovating Orazietti's office at the college.
"There is minor maintenance and repairs being done to an office that hasn't seen changes in over 20 years, that's all I would say," Orazietti said.