The 2024-25 Budget provides $793 million for the Ministry of Advanced Education – an increase of $28.2 million, or 3.7 per cent, from 2023-24. This investment will enhance funding, expand health training programs and focus on key infrastructure projects.
Operational Funding
- Post-secondary institutions will receive nearly $725 million in operating and capital grants.
- $12-million top-up to the province’s current multi-year funding agreement with post-secondary institutions, which is an increase of 2.2 per cent. This funding will allow Saskatchewan’s post-secondary institutions to remain responsive to the needs of students and the labour market.
- $46.6 million for student supports including:
- $34.4 million for the Student Aid Fund, which provides repayable and non-repayable financial assistance to more than 22,000 students each year; and
- $12.2 million for scholarships and bursaries.
- Nearly $15 million in new funding to train additional health care workers through the Health Human Resources Action Plan. This includes an $11.4-million operating increase for new and incremental support of the following training seats at full implementation:
- Health Human Resources Action Plan: more than 610 new seats in various professions, with a focus on training for high demand and hard-to-recruit professions, such as registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, licensed practical nurses, primary care paramedics and continuing care assistants;
- Nursing Seat Expansion: 600 new seats in nursing professions, including registered nursing, nurse practitioner and registered psychiatric nursing; and
- Undergraduate medical education: 32 new undergraduate medical education seats.
- $1.5 million for the Saskatchewan Apprenticeship Trade Certification Commission to add 250 additional seats for constructed-related trades, including electrician, plumbing and welding. This increases the investment in apprenticeship training to $22.9 million and expands the number of training seats to 4,700.
- $200,000 to enhance and expand the Saskatchewan Police College.
- Funding for Indigenous Teacher Education programs to support the preservation and revitalization of Indigenous languages in the province.
- Continued funding for the Graduate Retention Program – the most generous support program of its kind in Canada. The program provides up to $20,000 in tax credits to post-secondary graduates who remain in the province to work. More than 81,600 students have benefited from the program, which provides approximately $65 million in support annually.
Capital Funding
- $59 million in infrastructure at provincial post-secondary institutions, including:
- New health care training programs at the University of Saskatchewan – Speech Language Pathology, Occupational Therapy and Physician Assistant;
- Further health training seat expansion;
- Design and planning work for Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s new Saskatoon campus; and
- Other maintenance and upgrades.
- Key capital investments include:
- $8.7 million for electrical and mechanical upgrades at the University of Saskatchewan; and
- $6.3 million for cooling tower replacement at the University of Regina.
- More than $839 million has been comitted to post-secondary infrastructure across the province since 2008-09.