La Trobe University is at risk of going broke in a matter of weeks unless it secures a financial lifeline from the banks and an agreement from staff to cut wages.
The university’s chief financial officer, Mike Smith, told staff in a 90-minute webinar that La Trobe was facing a revenue slump of $400 million to $520 million between now and the end of 2021. To date, only $207 million in savings had been found to fill the anticipated funding hole, he said. Last year’s trading surplus of $19.4 million was down from $30 million recorded the previous year, and $75 million in borrowings for new student accommodation had trebled the debt-to-equity ratio.Hannah Robert, a law lecturer who helped organise a Monday-night meeting of staff to discuss the university’s financial predicament, said the situation was difficult.
La Trobe staff have already rejected one offer under the Australian University Jobs Protection Framework, a variation to the university’s enterprise bargaining agreement negotiated with the National Tertiary Education Union.
This is absolutely untrue. Across the higher ed sector universities are facing significant financial losses following the pandemic. LTU is facing job losses as are most universities. This does not mean it is going broke it means it will remain. FactCheck
Serves them right for building a university to educate Chinese
University should be a place of education not a back door immigration agency. If the administration had concentrated on excelling in education the narrative might have been different.
Disruption is a fact . . let useless universities die long overdue death! Get woke . . go broke!
They can simply sell and lease back their campus at Bundoora. Plenty of investors would take it in a heartbeat.
braydenmaysport
At 2017, La Trobe has 7,535 oversea students on campus, University of Melbourne has 23,680. One oversea student pays around $30,000 a year. Thats $484 millions less of income a year for La Trobe. I thinks thats why it's going to be bankrupt.
La Trobe is not at risk of 'going broke'—this is a misleading exaggeration. We've always been forthright and transparent about the impacts of COVID19 on our finances and the damage it's doing to the entire highereducation sector. This is our position:
How does a Uni go broke when they charge rediculous fees that take years for the students to repay? They’ve only got themselves to blame. Clearly they need a major restructure like how RMIT did a few years ago.
Warm regards to the social work dep🖕🏽
Education and health care for a nation should not depend on profit.
I Hope Aus uni going to realise Power of International Students. Please Local’s Help La Trobe Uni 😂😂😂
Not surprising for a uni hugely relying on international students while most of them cannot get even a spot in their own country due to terrible study results.
Yet another marxists cesspit. Fk them, even in the 90's they had red posters on campus.
The action of pathetic premiers .
People commenting on over-reliance of universities on international students should work a little farther down the causal chain to government under-funding of tertiary education.
Go Woke, Go Broke. More will follow.
Bank shareholders are not the salvation army. I am sure RMIT would be ready to pounce if the time is right.
Have a look ghimiresansar
Dumb universities dumber government.
When you put money from foreign students ahead of educating Australians this happens. Academics are way over paid for their value to society.
It’s a COLD WINTER for third tier Uni when losing international students.
Close it down. If the Unis had done their job they wouldn't be in this fix.
Please support universities ScottMorrisonMP.
They are expanding and building across the road.. please..
The market works.
Start off by cutting the funding to their shit soccer team
if the staff really cared about education then they should have taken a paycut. what did they do with all those “surplus” millions?
This is a looming disaster. People are quick to point at the international student business model as the cause but Latrobe is actually less exposed to this problem than other Vic universities and its many regional campuses will mean regional kids suffer most
Perhaps they could lessen the cuts for those who earn less than (say) $100K by having those earning more than that figure cut by a higher percentage, and for the top administrators to offer to cut theirs by an even higher percentage?
Roz Ward can start a GoFundMe initiative. This is a reflection of the University and not of the government. They lost their way many years ago and shifted from being an educational institution, to a haven and cash cow for activists and lobby groups.
It’s always been tough there. The legendary milk raids on the sports centre in the dead of night during the early 90s by college students attests to that.
A university that is also an educational place for a degree in finance & accounting no doubt. Maybe they should rethink their business model of living on international students.. think local might be a better plan & more constructive for actual citizens
Inevitable outcome after 10+ years cutting of gov grants + $850,000 vice chancellor salary!
Good
Relying so much on international students is a terrible business model