An organization representing the interests of students in colleges across Ontario says it’s the students who are suffering as the result of actions – or a lack thereof – being taken by the provincial and federal governments.
As result, colleges are facing massive deficits and are in turn cutting staff and programs to deal with it, said Lynn Courville, executive director of Ontario Student Voices, a group made of up of representatives from several colleges across Ontario, including Niagara College, with campuses in Welland and Niagara-on-the-Lake.
“We know that [last] April, Fleming College had eliminated 29 programs,” she said. “Seneca College has also temporarily closed its Markham campus.”
Sheridan College in Oakville, whose student union is a member of the provincial group, is expecting a $112 million drop in revenue next year and that it is suspending programs and reviewing the status of 27 others. Meanwhile, in Hamilton, Mohawk College is projecting a $50-million shortfall for the 2025-26 academic year and is planning a 20 per cent reduction in administrative staff and is suspending at least 12 programs.
There are several reasons colleges are finding themselves in trouble, Courville said, most notably a lack of funding from the province and changes to federal rules surrounding international students by the federal government.
“What we've heard from students is that Canada isn't as desirable of a location to study any longer.”
What we've heard from students is that Canada isn't as desirable of a location to study any longer
That’s because the policy has been in a state of flux with changes being made constantly, Courville said.
“We've seen changes consistently over the last several months, and so it just leads to a lot of uncertainty,” she said. “And what we heard from institutions is that even though the cap was set for September, they actually saw less applicants to even meet those benchmarks of those caps because of how undesirable Canada now seems.”
While the issues surrounding international students have had an impact on colleges, it’s really a lack of funding from the provincial government that is the major driver of the financial difficulties colleges now find themselves in. The post-secondary school system in Ontario is the least funded in Canada.
“If the system was properly funded and we weren't so heavily reliant on international students for the last several years, then this situation might not be as bad,” Courville said. “But because the post-secondary system is severely underfunded, that leads to this exasperating situation.”
Fiona Allen, vice-president, academic for Niagara College, said the school is in better financial shape than others thanks to what she called “a very sophisticated and prudent financial management system.”
Because of that, she said the college has been operating with budget surpluses year after year, and now, while other institutions have been making staff cuts and shutting down courses, Niagara has been able to continue to offer all its programs.
“Financially, we've been in a good position, so we haven't rushed into making program cuts or any of those decisions,” Allan said. “We're still waiting to see what the final outcome of some of the federal changes are for IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada).”
A spokesperson for the IRCC placed the issues at the feet of the province – even those regarding international students, noting education is a provincial responsibility.
“We cannot comment on the finances of educational institutions,” Mary Rose Sabater, a communications advisor with the department, said in an emailed response to questions from PelhamToday. “The Government of Canada expects designated learning institutions to only accept the number of students that they can reasonably support, including providing housing options for them.”
As for international students, Sabater said permit applications require an “attestation letter” from the province and it is a provincial or territorial responsibility to distribute letters “to meet their allocations in a way that meets their respective economic and regional needs.”
The goal, Sabater said, is to integrate temporary residents into overall immigration, which is “critical to supporting sustainable population growth as we respond to the changing demands of the labour market and work to strengthen alignment between immigration planning and community capacity.”
In that regard, she said the federal department will continue to work with provinces and territories as well as “designated learning institutions and national education stakeholders to develop a sustainable path forward for international students.”
Back at Niagara, Allan said the college has seen an increase in “domestic” students to the tune of 10 per cent for the current academic year.
“We're really focusing on the areas of growth where we see a lot of student demand domestically as well, and that would be in health and the trades,” Allan said.
But despite all of that, it doesn’t mean funding shouldn’t be addressed. One way is through allowing for an increase in tuition, which has been stuck at 2014 levels. Allan said.
“For anybody taking a wage freeze for 10 years, it would be hard to pay their bills,” she said.
The province needs to look back at the findings of its own blue ribbon panel struck in 2023. Among the recommendations made in the panel’s November 2023 report was a one-time 25 per cent hike in tuition.
“They came up with some recommendations around increasing funding, increasing tuition, recommendations that we think are very fair that we also know the students voiced as supporting it as very fair.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of College and Universities said the Province “is squarely focused” on making sure post-secondary programs help students enter careers that address present and future labour needs in Ontario.
“Our post-secondary sector is going through a rebalancing right now and some difficult decisions are being made by our institutions to ensure their longevity,” said Dayna Smockum, speaking on behalf of colleges and universities Minister Nolan Quinn.
Some difficult decisions are being made by our institutions to ensure their longevity
‘We have been and will continue to work with the sector to ensure that they’re able to keep providing Ontario students with the education and skills they need for good-paying, in-demand jobs and careers,” she said.
In terms of funding, she said the government had delivered, calling a $1.3-billion infusion of funding to “stabilize the sector” the biggest investment made in more than a decade.
“That is on top of the more than $5 billion in operating funding we put into the sector every year so they can continue to deliver for our students,” Smockum said.
Allan, meanwhile, said by what she has seen in the media, colleges look as if they’re being selective about programs that are being cut, “and keeping programs open that they know are high demand programs, something that I think all folks will be doing.”
Niagara College, Allan said, will continue to advocate for federal support from the federal government for help.
“The IRCC did not support any of our programming in tourism and hospitality, which is very impactful for regions that are dependent on tourism and hospitality sectors, as we are here in Niagara,” Allan said.
Niagara, she said, can help with staffing for those sectors and international students have a role to play.
“Staffing is an issue, and we've always been able to support them in that with our students, and that that's going to become more difficult with less international students going through those types of programs.”
Like Allan, Student Voices’ Courville thinks the province can do better.
“What we're asking for is a more sustainable post-secondary funding system model,” she said. “Our advocacy efforts are focusing on actionable ways for the government to support students To that end, the group is calling on the government to increase grants by 10 per cent and then tie them to the consumer price index (CPI).
“We know that that's not going to be enough now, given these (federal changes), but it's a step in the right direction,” she said. “Then it can be re-evaluated to see how much more funding is needed.”
