Ontario investing $1.3B in colleges, universities: Is it enough?

WHAT’S AT ISSUE

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In January, Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced a 35 per cent reduction in the number of international student study permits this year, with the total cap divided among provinces.

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The federal government says the number of new visas for international students will be capped at 364,000 this year, almost 200,000 fewer than the 560,000 issued in 2023. A cap will also be in place in 2025.

The news was devastating for Ontario colleges, including Lambton College in Sarnia, which estimates the potential loss of revenue could be as high as $30 million.

WHAT HAPPENED TODAY

The provincial government announced nearly $1.3 billion in new funding to help stabilize funding for Ontario’s colleges and universities.

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At the same time a tuition freeze remains in place for at least three more years.

“We’re not doing this on the backs of students,” Jill Dunlop, minister of colleges and universities, said. “It’s never been more important to keep costs down for students.”

Most of the new funding, over three years, will go to support colleges and universities as they slash their international student numbers. The temporary two-year cap on visas is a response to the rapid increase in temporary residents that has put immense pressure on Canada’s housing supply. Dunlop said she is “very disappointed” with the federal government’s “unilateral decision, without any consultation” to implement caps to international students study permits.

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“This was dropped on us,” she said.

WHAT PEOPLE SAID

In a statement, Western University says the funding announcement “falls short of the government’s blue-ribbon panel recommendations” that called for $1.9 billion in base funding for the university sector during the next three years.

“With the lowest per-student funding in Canada, Ontario’s universities – including Western – continue to face significant financial pressures as we grapple with an ongoing tuition freeze and declining operating grants,” Western said.

“An increase in operating grants, tuition fees and indexation to keep up with inflation is needed to help universities achieve long-term financial sustainability,” the university said.

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Mark Feltham, present of OPSEU Local 110 at Fanshawe College, said the funding announced will “do relatively little to address the dismal reality that Ontario funds colleges at only 44 per cent of the Canadian national average.

“This funding is over three years, has to be applied for, and falls far short of the financial measures recommended by this government’s own blue-ribbon panel on post-secondary education just last year,” he said.

John Finlay, vice-president of St. Clair College in Windsor and Chatham, said the investment will be “very helpful.

“I think it’s great whenever you have a minister standing and saying they are investing in our sector (a total of) $1.3 billion,” he said. “This is obviously a first step. I am sure further action from the government is coming. It’ll be interesting to see how this breaks down and what they’re using as a template of distribution of funds.”

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London West NDP MPP Peggy Sattler said the announcement underscores that the Ontario government doesn’t understand “the crisis that our post-secondary institutions are facing.

“Decades of chronic underfunding by both Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments, plus five years of (Premier Doug) Ford cuts have pushed our post-secondary institutions to the brink,” Sattler, the NDP’s colleges and universities critic. “The response today is just half of what Ford’s panel of experts have said colleges and universities need in Ontario just to keep the doors open.

“Ford has actively encouraged over-reliance on international students’ tuition,” she said.

“I don’t see any serious action here today.”

With files from Beatriz Baleeiro

[email protected]

@HeatheratLFP

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