La Trobe University reveals grim 2021 financial forecast

A major Melbourne university has revealed a grim financial outlook for the rest of 2021 in an all-staff email leaked to Leader.

La Trobe University is expecting a loss of $170 million in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a big decline in international student cohorts.

La Trobe University is expecting a loss of $170 million in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a big decline in international student cohorts.

In an all-staff email leaked to Leader the university’s vice-chancellor and president professor John Dewar said La Trobe expected the “revenue downturn for 2021 will be much greater than it was last year”.

“The continued delay in the reopening of international borders means that we are unlikely to see the return of international students to Australia in 2021,” he wrote.

“This will delay recovery in revenues until 2023 and beyond.

“We have a significant task still ahead to ensure that the University continues on a sustainable path, and that we continue to build on our hard work of last year.”

It was also revealed the university finished last year with an operating deficit of $9.5m.

“The result may change as the auditors complete their work, but that is our best estimate at this stage,” professor Dewar said.

“This is a remarkable achievement given that we experienced a revenue downturn last year of about $90m compared to our pre-COVID forecasts.

“It is also in line with the forecasts we made once COVID hit.”

Professor Dewar said the university was forced to make pay reductions to staff, voluntary redundancies and reductions in non-salary expenditure in a bid to save money.

“Last year was tough for all of us. At work, we lost valued colleagues, had our pay reduced and adjusted to remote working; and, more broadly, we worried about the effect of COVID on our children‘s education, the care of our loved parents and vulnerable members of our communities,” he wrote.

“We responded quickly to the pandemic because we quickly realised that its financial effects would be long term rather than short-lived.

“The prompt action we took last year has set the University on a strong path to long-term sustainability.”

[e-mail]