Universities could be impacted by Canada international student cap

"Keep the lights on": Canada's international student crackdown could have severe impacts on universities

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Substantial changes are being made for international students in Canada, which could mean foreign students won’t be able to — or decide not to — study in the country. Without them, many are warning there could be a major impact on colleges and universities that have come to rely on them.

There will be a cap on international student visas in Canada for two years, resulting in approximately 364,000 approved international student study permits — a decrease of 35% from 2023.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced the decision, stating that it is “unacceptable that some private institutions have taken advantage of international students by operating under-resourced campuses, lacking supports for students in charging high tuition fees, all the while significantly increasing their intake of international students.”

While the British Columbia Federation of Students (BCFS) — which represents more than 170,000 people enrolled at universities, colleges and institutes — applauds the action, it added, “Solely limiting international student visas without an infusion of provincial funding for the post-secondary education system will not fix the root cause of the problem.”

BCFS Secretary-Treasurer Jessie Niikoi told Daily Hive that post-secondary schools have started to rely too heavily on international students’ fees and numbers because they are not receiving enough money from the government to make up for the funding shortfalls.

“We realized as the provincial funding was going down, the international student fees were going up,” she said.

How much post-secondary tuition costs for international students

In Canada, there continues to be a wide gap between international and Canadian domestic students’ fees.

The most recent Statistics Canada reports show the cost of undergraduate and graduate programs in the country, finding that, in the 2023/2024 academic year, international undergraduate students paid about $38,081 and international graduate students paid $22,061 on average in tuition fees for degree programs.

International undergraduate students paid the highest fees in Ontario, then BC, and third-most in Quebec.

The top three highest tuition fees for international graduate students were found in Ontario, BC, and Nova Scotia.

“Adjusted for inflation, tuition fees for Canadian undergraduate students have been slightly decreasing since 2018/2019 while they continue to increase for their international counterparts,” StatCan reported.

On average, a full-time domestic undergraduate student will pay $7,076 for a degree program in the 2023/2024 year. A domestic graduate student will pay about $7,573.

“Services are going to be cut”

There is a 2% domestic tuition cap in BC but no cap for international students. Once fewer international students are admitted into institutions, Niikoi said there is a possibility that overall tuition will increase if the institutions continue to experience funding shortfalls. Tuition could go up, and “no one’s gonna penalize these institutions,” Niikoi emphasized.

Research from BCFS highlighted a change in provincial funding over the years.

“In 2000, provincial funding made up 68% of institutional operational revenue. Now, in 2023, it makes up only 40%,” BCFS said in a statement.

To “properly fund” public post-secondary schools to prevent schools from relying on international student tuition fees to “keep the lights on” and run services, BCFS calls on the province to invest an additional $500 million annually in operational funding for public post-secondary institutions.

Otherwise, the group warns, “Services are going to be cut.”

“Classes are going to be cut short, you’re going to have less classes, less courses. And a lot of implications can happen after that,” Niikoi said, adding that services for the library, gym, and cafeteria could be affected as well.

“Put the money back into the system”

Niikoi said she is more concerned about rural colleges because they are smaller and provide essential services and programs catered to those communities.

As an example of how dependent schools are on international students, Niikoi shared how much money Okanagan College lost from foreign students compared to domestic students.

“And a very good example was when COVID-19 happened… Okanagan College had a loss of 380 students, that was a loss of $2.3 million compared to just losing 900 domestic students and only losing $2 million,” she said.

“Put the money back into the system,” Niikoi urged.

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BCFS is also calling on the province to freeze and progressively reduce international and domestic student tuition fees as well as expand the Tuition Fee Limit policy to include international student tuition fees, capping them at 2% annually to provide stability and predictability.

Since BC and Ontario have more foreign students, the new federal policy is expected to have a greater impact on the provinces to adjust to.

The cap space will be allocated by province based on population, so some regions will see “more significant reductions,” Immigration Minister Miller said.

In a statement from the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, the ministry noted it is reviewing the details of the federal cap on study permits “and are working with the federal government to understand the implications for post-secondary institutions in our province.”

The province has also announced that public post-secondary institutions will be required to post student tuition levels for the entire time they are studying.

“This ensures incoming students know the entire costs of their education before they start their program,” the ministry said.

It added that Budget 2023 has provided the ministry with a total budget of $2.77 billion for 2023/24.