The federal government’s cap on international students is blowing a hole in the budgets of colleges and universities, according to post-secondary sector leaders.
What happened: Some colleges and universities say they expect to face serious financial shortfalls as the number of international students in Canada falls in the wake of new policies to cap international students.
- Universities Canada, an association representing almost 100 schools, said it’s forecasting enrolment of international students to drop by 45%, a larger reduction than the government’s targeted 35% cut.
Why it matters: Most colleges and universities have come to depend (to one degree or another) on international students, who pay higher tuition than domestic students, as a key source of revenue.
- In Ontario, where most international students study, around three-quarters of tuition collected by public colleges came from international students in recent years.
Yes, but: The institutions most impacted by falling international student numbers are likely to be a relatively small number of colleges in Ontario that have ballooned their budgets over the past five years — in some cases by hundreds of millions of dollars — almost entirely through international student fees.—TS