“…the one recipient of state aid:” – Regina College
As had the University of Saskatchewan, the province’s junior colleges saw a dramatic reduction in their funding during the Depression. The University had accepted the idea of junior colleges in 1923 when it allowed several schools to offer first year university classes. Though the system had been implemented in part to assure a degree of standardization, it was also seen as a means to curtail the growth of independent, religious colleges in the province. The largest of the junior affiliates, Regina College, found itself in 1934 unable to continue operation without a new source of funding. By mutual agreement and with the help of a grant from the Carnegie Corporation, the University of Saskatchewan assumed full responsibility for the buildings, grounds and academic programs of Regina College.
It was certainly costly for the University of Saskatchewan – Regina College’s debts were more than originally thought, and funding sources everywhere were under stress. However, Murray had always been adamant that the province should focus its aid on a single degree-granting institution; competition to develop another university at that time would have hampered the development of both. Regina College became the Regina campus of the University of Saskatchewan.
“Great as was the operating loss of 1934-5, it is more than offset by the advantages resulting from the attainment of the University’s great objective – to be the one recipient of state aid for University purposes and the sole degree conferring power in the province,” Murray wrote.