Trinity has reported a €25.6 million deficit for the 2019/20 financial year, after running surpluses for the previous two years.
In its annual financial statement, College largely attributed the losses to the coronavirus pandemic, which it said has “had a significant impact on the University’s non-exchequer revenue streams during the year, particularly in relation to commercial income”.
While income from academic fees increased by €10.6 million and research income decreased by €2.1 million, “other|” income decreased by €22.9 million “driven mainly by the impact of COVID-19 on Trinity’s commercial revenues”.
In the previous two years, the College reported surpluses of €5.7 and €0.9 million respectively.
The report added: “We have been able to partially mitigate these losses through prudent management of the University finances and with a strong focus on control of operating costs.”
Additionally, Trinity did not see a significant decrease in registrations, which some initially predicted might take place for the university sector as a result of students choosing to delay further education until after the pandemic.
The College’s annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization amounted to €8.6 million, a 38% decrease year-on-year from €13.8 million in 2018/19.
The report called for increased government investment in Trinity in order to fully recover from the pandemic as well as to make up for historical underfunding.
“While Government supports for COVID impacts in 2020 were greatly welcomed, significant additional funding will be required to address the shortfall in public funding per student and to meet anticipated growth in demographic and participation rates.”
In an email statement to The University Times, Catherine O’Mahony, a Trinity media relations officer, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on College revenues in the 2019/20 year. Non-exchequer income streams, particularly commercial revenues, fell.”
“‘Other income’ which includes commercial revenue fell by €23 million.”
“However we have been able to partially mitigate these losses through cost control and other measures and we are confident that Trinity is well positioned to emerge strongly from this crisis”, she added.
The coronavirus has hit Irish universities’ coffers hard since its outbreak. Last September, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) said that the income of Irish universities would drop by around €250 million in 2020/21.
In a report on the financial implications of the coronavirus pandemic for Ireland’s university sector, the PBO estimated that the net cost of the pandemic for the sector in 2019/20 would be approximately €83 million and €245 million in 2020/21 – a total of €328 million over the two years – with the drop in international students being a major contributor to the loss.
