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Ontario’s public accounts for the last fiscal year, released this month, showed the province ended the year with a $600 million deficit, down from the $1.3bn deficit projected in the 2023 budget.
Revenues were up by $1.6bn from what was expected in the 2023 budget, largely due to “higher third-party revenue from colleges driven by higher revenue from international student tuition and private partnerships,” according to the document.
The statements present the financial results for the 2023/24 fiscal year ending on March 31, 2024 – two months after the IRCC’s initial cap announcement in January 2024, and before any policy changes had come into effect.
The accounts were released on September 19, the day after Canada announced further limits on international students, post-graduate work visas and spousal visas, heightening concerns about the financial repercussions the changes will have on provinces.
“The policy changes announced by IRCC on September 18 to the ISP and PGWP will have a profound financial impact on Canada’s already struggling PSE system,” Larissa Bezo, president and CEO of CBIE, told The PIE News.
“This crisis has exposed what is a chronic underfunding and undervaluing of post-secondary education in this country.”
“Ultimately, we need commitment by provinces and territories to properly fund post-secondary education in Canada to ensure a high-quality offering for Canadian students which is not reliant on revenues from international student tuition for operational survival,” said Bezo.
International student enrolment nearly doubled at Ontario’s universities and more than tripled at its colleges between 2014/15 and 2021/22, according to a 2023 report from the Smart Prosperity Institute.
We need commitment by provinces to properly fund post-secondary education in Canada … which is not reliant on revenues from international student tuition
Larissa Bezo, CBIE
The province’s post-secondary institutions have been increasingly reliant on international student tuition after the previous government cut domestic tuition fees by 10% in 2019.
In 2020/21, average university fees were $7,938 for domestic undergraduate students and $40,525 for international undergraduate students, as reported by The Globe and Mail.
“Ontario’s public college system cannot be cut off at the knees like this,” said Colleges Ontario CEO Marketa Evans, projecting a decline of at least $1.7bn in revenue over the next two years.
“With declining international students, and the resulting budgetary crunch, colleges will have to reduce program offerings or cancel them altogether, which means domestic students won’t have the chance to study in programs that are needed to address critical labour shortages,” added Evans.
The association representing the province’s universities has also spoken out against the changes, emphasising that universities have “acted responsibly” and maintained “modest levels of international enrolment growth”.
President and CEO of Ontario Universities, Steve Orsini, has called on the province to protect universities’ existing cap allocations so that Ontario remains a competitive education destination on the global stage.
Many questions remain over the details of the policy changes, including which college courses will allow students to qualify for a three-year PGWP, as determined by “labour market demand”.
The sector expects to hear more details on the incoming changes on November 1, when immigration minister Marc Miller will announce the government’s 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan. This is also the date that many of the newly announced policies will come into effect.
