As CapU faces financial woes, students are being forced to take required courses elsewhere
Ben Taylor (he/him) // Crew Writer
Jasmine Linton (she/her) // Illustrator
The current budget deficit that Capilano University faces is causing many courses and programs to be discontinued or paused. Programs listed in the cuts range from specific electives, to entire degree programs, such as the Bachelor of Communications Studies. The justification for these cuts generally centre around inconsistencies in enrolment and the financial stress this creates for the university. The Courier spoke to faculty and students at the School of Business and Professional Studies, in regards to the difficulties they have faced due to the course cuts and the actions they have been forced to take as a result.
The Bachelor of Business Administration program offers an accounting concentration for students wishing to become chartered professional accountants (CPA). An instructor from the program, who remains anonymous, broke down what that path looks like. They noted that at CapU “our business degree concentrations are a bit different than a major at other institutions, […] here to get a concentration in accounting, you only need to take five 300 and 400 level accounting courses, plus four 100 and 200 level courses which totals to nine. However, to enter into the Chartered Professional Accountancy program, you needed to complete 14 prerequisite courses.” In prior years, students were able to attain the additional prerequisite courses through electives outside of the concentration. Nevertheless,, after recent cuts, “those electives may or may not be offered in any given year [and] students are having to take these courses elsewhere,” they claimed.
Some students have resorted to taking online asynchronous courses at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) in order to make up for the lost courses. Taking supplemental online courses at another institution isn’t unusual, but doing so out of necessity sets a dangerous new precedent. One student in the accounting concentration detailed their experience; “BFIN 411 (Advanced Financial Accounting) is the concluding financial accounting course at CapU and is a required course for entrance into the CPA PEP program. Prior to Summer 2025, the course was offered at CapU and was present on the School of Business BBA Course Plan. During the Summer of 2025, the University removed the course from all future offerings without any communication with students.” Because of this the student was forced to register in an equivalent course at TRU, which according to them, is “far inferior to learning in the classroom environment at CapU.”
As a result, there remains a general air of frustration with the administration among instructors and students alike in the program. The instructor claimed, “We have met with more than 30+ students, had petitions signed, saw students e-mail the previous Vice Chair Academic and current business scheduler to no avail.” Allegedly, there was evidence that enough students were planning to enter into BFIN 411, including internal data of who had taken which pre-requisites. Still, according to the instructor, it seemed like the university’s pressure to remove any non-required or elective courses may have caused all the evidence presented to be disregarded.
From the student perspective, advocacy has been challenging due to the circumstances the cuts have put them in. “The lack of communication from the School of Business and our heavy courseloads prior to graduation, our advocacy efforts have stalled. However, with the recent changes in leadership within the University and School of Business, we are looking to resume efforts to advocate for current and future students experiencing issues with the University’s course planning,” explained a CapU student involved with the Capilano Business & Professional Society.
This unfortunate situation in the accounting program is indicative of a larger issue within the CapU community, specifically with regard to financial struggles being faced by the university. In previous issues, the Courier detailed how CapU found themselves in the current financial crisis, leading to the cuts and discontinuations of programs. Consequently, we are now seeing how these issues are directly impacting students who now struggle to complete their degrees at CapU.