Canada’s federal government announces new policies shaping the future for international students, signaling changes due to our country’s economy.
Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Marc Miller, said they will limit the number of undergraduate student permits over the next two years. Miller suspects abroad students will be reduced by approximately 35–50 per cent.
Miller told CBC news the reason for this reduction is the government’s response to the impact of growing numbers of international students has on the housing market.
“To maintain a sustainable level of temporary residence in Canada, as well to ensure that there is no further growth in the number of international students in Canada for 2024, we are setting an international application intake cap for two years from 2024,” Miller said
The limit in student permits comes shortly after Miller made changes to the financial requirement to better match the current cost of living in Canada.
The $10,000 financial requirement international students once needed to be able to study in Canada — which has been in place for the last two decades — will be replaced by a $20,635 requirement for international students, in addition to paying for tuition and travel expenses in their first year.
Fauziah Gebi, a third-year public relations student at the University of Guelph-Humber, discusses her expenses as an international student before the new set of changes.
“I pay $30,000 in tuition, and $12,000 for student residence and my meal plan, so it’s a little over $40,000 every year,” Gebi said.
Statistics Canada reported a 5.1 per cent increase in the housing market in 2023, accompanied by a 3.4 per cent rise in inflation during the same year.
Amid the uncertainty surrounding Canada’s economic direction, Miller emphasizes the need for the country to better prepare prospective international students for the financial challenges they might encounter while studying abroad.
“We need to be doing our jobs and making sure that we have a system that actually makes sure students have the financial capability to come to Canada,” Miller said.
For students like Gebi, however, she says she’s fortunate that she is able to come to Canada for her education, despite the costs.
“The reason people come to Canada is because it has the best education. It’s like a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I don’t regret coming here even with how expensive it is,” Gebi said.
Azi Afousi, the president of the Student College Alliance — an organization that collaborates with students all over Ont,. to advocate for matters that enhance the overall experience of post-secondary students — says Canada is not the only country limiting their international students.
“Scandinavia is also capping some international students and putting some limits there, so to say that Canada is the only country going through this is absolutely not true,” Afousi said.
Afousi points out that the current affordability issues in Canada is creating a challenging situation, given the country’s long standing reputation as a global standard in education.
“We’ve been a global leader in diversity and being a place where a lot of international students want to come study, and the big issue that is now arising is obviously unaffordability. This is a global trend. But if we are to focus a little bit more on Ontario the trend is that unfortunately, Ontario is the lowest funded province out of the whole country, so our students have the lowest funding, and have the lowest level of funding per capita,” Afousi said.
A third-year student— who requested to stay unknown— studying Mathematics at the University of Waterloo says Canada should have made these new policies regarding international students a long time ago.
“It realistically doesn’t make sense to keep bringing in International students when we barely have enough jobs to support Canadian citizens, and the housing crisis is making everything so much more complicated. If we don’t have the right resources to support them, then they shouldn’t be coming here,” student said.
Afousi says that it is not uncommon for domestic Canadian students to feel opportunities are being taken away due to International students, but she highlights how their funds help provide for Canadian university programs.
“If we cannot provide certain guarantees when it comes to huge things like housing, then we cannot just bring people in. It is important to be realistic. But a lot of our programs exist because of the funds that international students bring to this province, and to this country, so we should have a level of understanding and an appreciation of where our funds are coming from,” Afousi said.
ApplyBoard, a Canadian educational technology company, reported that International students contribute more than $22.3 billion to the Canadian economy each year.
With the new set of changes, Universities may expect a decrease in funding, and who knows where Canada’s economy will be in two years.
At this time, Guelph-Humber has not issued a response to these new federal policies.
