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The provincial government announced a new university funding plan.

Marilyn More, Minister of Labour and Advanced Education, announced a four per cent聽 reduction in grant funding for the 2011-2012 academic聽year.

鈥淯niversities in Nova Scotia are being asked to manage within the same financial restraints that all provincial departments and agencies face,鈥� she said in a news release. 鈥淚 am confident in their ability to ensure the future viability of our world-class university system.鈥�

The impact promises to be significant for Dalhousie, which last year received $190.2 million from the government for its operating budget.

鈥淲e have a lot to consider,鈥� says Ken Burt, Dalhousie's vice president, finance and administration. 鈥淚n light of this聽 announcement, we'll need to work through our numbers and assess the implications to Dalhousie.鈥�

At the same time, Minister More said the province would cap tuition increases to three per cent. She added that she was committed to聽 improving the province鈥檚 student assistance program鈥攐ne of the聽 recommendations of the O鈥橬eill report, which was presented to the聽 government last fall. In that report, economist Tim O鈥橬eill said聽 Nova Scotia had one of the weakest student assistance programs in the country.

For the last three years, under the Memorandum of Understanding聽 (MOU) between the province and universities, tuition was frozen for聽 all undergraduate, professional and graduate students. Nova Scotia students got an even better break on their tuition, with bursaries that amounted to $1,283 this academic year. That MOU is due to聽 expire on March 31.

Minister More said the government is committed to maintaining the聽Student Bursary Program at a cost of $29 million a year.