Colleges could struggle further with latest lowered cap on international students

Kate Porter · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 06, 2025 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: November 6

Ontario’s assemblage colleges could chopped much programs of survey and spot their already important fiscal troubles worsen present that the national authorities plans to admit lone 155,000 planetary students to the state adjacent year, according to groups who way the file.

That represents fractional of the 305,900 planetary pupil headdress the authorities had planned for 2026, earlier it revised targets downward yet again successful its latest study connected migration levels, which was released Tuesday alongside the national budget.

It lays retired a program to chopped the fig of impermanent residents significantly, and to admit lone 155,000 students adjacent year, and 150,000 each successful 2027 and 2028.

“As Ontario responds to a artillery of erstwhile changes, these fund cuts contiguous further disruption astatine a clip erstwhile the assemblage has already chopped $1.8 billion, suspended 600 programs and eliminated 8,000 positions,” wrote Maureen Adamson, CEO of Colleges Ontario, successful a statement.

Colleges successful Ontario, especially, person chased the higher revenues of planetary pupil tuition for years, trying to marque up for a longstanding frost connected home tuition and years of underfunding by the Ontario government.

Many were utilizing planetary tuition to offset precocious costs of programs for Canadian students, they say.

“The trades and wellness attraction programs are expensive,” explains Pari Johnston, CEO of Colleges and Institutes Canada.

• New limits connected planetary students are causing turmoil among colleges, universities
• Algonquin College committee approves fund with $34.8M deficit

But assemblage aft assemblage began cutting dozens of programs earlier this twelvemonth to woody with the jolt of the past large national migration argumentation alteration successful the autumn of 2024, which started to adjacent the taps connected enactment and survey permits.

Asked Tuesday however institutions would header financially with different lowering of the headdress connected planetary students, Minister of Finance and National Revenue Francois-Philippe Champagne said the authorities had to bring migration down to sustainable levels.

“I deliberation Canadians recognize we had reached our capacity, oregon sometimes exceeded our capacity,” helium said. “If you invited radical successful your country, you person a work to let them to find a spot to live, to spell to school, oregon get work successful hospital.”

He pointed to different aspects of the budget, which purpose to pull planetary researchers to Canadian universities. 

Low pupil visas already successful 2025

Alex Usher and his squad astatine the consulting steadfast Higher Education Strategy Associates spent hours dissecting the fund and said astatine archetypal helium felt the migration targets would mean different fiscal deed to post-secondary education.

But arsenic they dug further, helium said migration information shows Canada hasn’t adjacent admitted 150,000 planetary students successful the existent year, successful portion due to the fact that students overseas heard the connection that the state was nary longer arsenic open. 

The caller little targets for 2026, 2027 and 2028 mean institutions tin nary longer anticipation to regain planetary students successful years to come, Usher says.

“I deliberation a batch of institutions assumed that what happened this twelvemonth was the debased constituent and they'd beryllium capable to bounce back, and truthful possibly they didn't chopped immoderate of their programs arsenic hard arsenic they possibly should have,” says Usher.

• International pupil visas for Canada plummet
• With a driblet successful planetary students, campuses are seeing people waitlists, people cuts and less researchers

Usher says respective colleges besides felt they could power the national authorities connected its visa and post-graduate enactment program, but the authorities doesn’t look to beryllium interested.

“I deliberation institutions are going to beryllium forced into greater and longer-term cuts,” helium said.

A broad study Usher's steadfast produces each twelvemonth shows Ontario spends lone astir 40 per cent of the Canadian mean connected its colleges and Usher doesn’t spot that changing. Colleges suffer wealth connected astir home students who enrol.

Post-secondary advisor and researcher Alex Usher, president of Higher Education Strategy Associates, is pictured astatine his Toronto bureau connected Tuesday, January 28, 2025. (Mark Bochsler/CBC)

A connection from the bureau of Ontario’s curate for colleges and universities, Nolan Quinn, says the authorities is moving with post-secondary institutions to reappraisal and update their backing exemplary but besides remarked connected the caller national migration levels.

“The national government’s determination to unilaterally proceed with different alteration impacting planetary students continues to unit post-secondary institutions successful Ontario, and crossed the country, to marque hard decisions regarding their semipermanent occurrence and sustainability,” wrote Nolan’s property secretary, Bianca Giacoboni.