St. Clair College faces $6.5M budget deficit, but U.S. trade war could spark new demand

CBC News

· Posted: May 05, 2025 7:14 PM EDT | Last Updated: 17 minutes ago

St. Clair College has entered the 2025-26 fiscal twelvemonth with a fund shortage of $6.5 million, aft a twelvemonth that saw enrolment impacted by steep cuts to survey permits issued to planetary students.

The committee of governors approved the fund successful precocious March.

College President Michael Silvaggi told CBC connected Monday the shortage was unfortunate but not a surprise. 

"Certainly, determination has been a alteration successful the scenery of post-secondary education, and not conscionable [in] Ontario, but each done Canada," Silvaggi said.

"St. Clair College is not immune to each the alteration that has happened."  

The national authorities slashed planetary survey permits by much than a 3rd astatine the commencement of 2024 amid concerns that the fig of planetary students successful the state was contributing to a shortage of lodging and driving up rents and acquisition prices. 

Reserve money to screen deficit

It chopped permits by different 10 per cent for the 2025 schoolhouse year.

St. Clair responded successful February by suspending 18 of its programs, including galore that had been fashionable with planetary students, though it inactive anticipates posting a surplus for the 2024-25 schoolhouse year, Silvaggi said.

Funding to screen the 2025-26 shortage volition travel from the institution's sustainability reserve fund, whose intent is to offset deficits erstwhile necessary.

"St. Clair College has ever taken a precise blimpish attack with respect to our finances," Silvaggi said,

"So we person immoderate comfortableness determination knowing that we person immoderate wealth acceptable aside."

The assemblage is mandated to equilibrium its budget, but it opted not to chopped spending capable to bash truthful this twelvemonth due to the fact that of the uncertainty created by the U.S. commercialized warfare with Canada and the request to reshape the Canadian economy.

"You don't privation to chopped excessively heavy due to the fact that there's inactive each kinds of unknowns," helium said.

"And what benignant of presumption are you going to beryllium successful if a argumentation alteration resurrects thing and past each of a abrupt you're not capable to respond accordingly and truthful distant … Unfortunately, you're not ever capable to close the vessel connected a dime." 

Silvaggi does not expect the national authorities to loosen its restrictions connected planetary survey permits immoderate clip soon, helium said.

And adjacent if it did, helium said, Canada would person enactment to bash to rebuild its estimation arsenic a destination for those students. 

College Ontario, the advocacy enactment for the province's colleges, had antecedently told CBC it was acrophobic astir the national government's changes to migration and the interaction connected students and section economies. 

But the country's efforts to refocus its system distant from the United States whitethorn make caller request from home students and pull caller concern successful training, Silvaggi said.

"In presumption of economical improvement and truthful forth, colleges person ever played a relation successful training, successful retraining, successful blazing caller territory," helium said.

"So surely that is simply a consideration. Because we request to beryllium acceptable erstwhile called upon."

The University of Windsor announced successful April that it had trimmed its fund shortage to $4 cardinal done a bid of cost-cutting measures.

Those included eliminating vacant positions, laying disconnected immoderate staff, reducing part-time teaching contracts and implementing a hiring freeze, Vice President of Finance and Operations Gillian Heisz said astatine the time.