As international tuition makes up a bigger and bigger portion of Ontario universities' revenue streams, those students are being squeezed for more to make up funding gaps during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Government funding for higher education has stagnated over the years, and colleges and universities have often looked to international students to make up the deficit. But now that far <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/western-university-foreign-students-1.5695224" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fewer</a> international students are enrolling in Ontario colleges and universities due to the pandemic, that funding structure is failing — and many of the international students that have enrolled this year have been hit with tuition hikes. While some schools' tuition increases are in line with those that happen every year, students say they shouldn't be leaned on to make up a gap in funding that shouldn't exist in the first place.
Students at the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/isanuoft" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Toronto</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/tuition-hike-lakehead-pandemic-1.5631464" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lakehead University</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/international-students-western-upset-by-tuition-hike-1.5669013" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Western University</a> and the <a href="https://www.change.org/p/board-of-governors-revert-international-student-tuition-fees-increases" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">University of Guelph</a> have condemned the schools' tuition hikes. Many students have seen their tuitions — already multiple times what Canadian students pay — rise by thousands of dollars.
Schools are doing the same <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7003991/student-tuition-coronavirus-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">across the country</a>, at the University of Calgary, University of Manitoba and others.
One graduate program at the University of Guelph increased international tuition by 37 per cent this year, said Kayla Weiler, the national executive representative for the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario (CFS-O).
The CFS–O has seen across-the-board international tuition increases of 10 to 15 per cent in Ontario, she said, which has been difficult for students to handle — especially since job prospects have also been devastated.
The newly-formed International Students' Advocacy Network at U of T says the university increased average international tuition by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/isanuoft/photos/pcb.115746430242875/115746073576244/?type=3&amp;theater" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">5.4 per cent</a> at its downtown campus. The group points out that international students aren't eligible for the federal Canada Emergency Student Benefit or provincial student aid; that they are <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/study-canada/work/work-off-campus.html#hours" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">limited</a> in the number of hours they can work; and that other bursaries and scholarships are "nearly nonexistent."
The group is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/isanuoft/photos/pcb.111697163981135/111696940647824/?type=3&amp;theater" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">demanding</a> a "significant" reduction in tuition and fees, an extension to pay, and more transparency from the university.
U of T, Western and UGuelph did not reply to requests for comment. Western told <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/international-students-western-upset-by-tuition-hike-1.5669013" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CBC</a> its increase was necessary to cover "inflationary and operating costs"; and U of T told <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/08/27/intarional-student-fees-coronavirus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CityNews </a>that its fee hike was finalized in April 2019.
Lakehead also said its tuition changes were approved before the pandemic.
"Depending on the services, supports, and resources an academic program requires, fees are adjusted accordingly," spokesperson Brandon Walker said in an email to QP Briefing, adding that the university has increased financial aid during the pandemic.
Prabhjot Ahuja, the vice-president of finance of the Lakehead student union, said he's still waiting on the university to start up the promised bursaries.
Western students' council Vice-President External Affairs Mackenzy Metcalfe said the school's hikes are "unfortunately" routine. She called for the university to increase student aid to low income, marginalized and international students. 
UGuelph student association President Tyler Poirier said he believes the university planned its tuition hike earlier — but that it finalized the decision in the middle of the pandemic. The administration has been "unwilling to budge," justifying the increase due to the Ford government's 10 per cent domestic tuition cut last year.
Weiler also noted that the freeze didn't come with any new funding, so many universities hiked international tuition instead.
Higher tuition for international students can be traced back to the 1970s, when schools saw it as a way to increase revenue, with the federal government's blessing. Since then, the share of schools' revenue from public funding has <a href="https://www.caut.ca/latest/publications/almanac" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">decreased</a>, leaving schools to pick up more of the slack with increased tuition, fees and private donations. Since international tuition isn't subsidized and regulated as tightly as domestic tuition, it's often the first target for increases.
The Tories also <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2019/09/30/students-report-maxing-out-credit-cards-taking-on-extra-jobs-to-stay-in-school-after-osap-cuts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cut OSAP funding</a> by about 30 per cent last year, which increased the amount all students on financial aid had to pay.
It's no surprise that "grossly underfunded" institutions have to look to international students to make up funding that should come from government, NDP colleges and universities critic Chris Glover said.
Families often pool money to send one student to school in Ontario, so it's unfair to hike their tuition unexpectedly and throw off their calculations while they're here, Glover said. He said there should be a limit to how much schools can increase tuition over the course of a program.
Increasing tuition is a "band-aid fix" that doesn't get at the root problem, Poirer said.
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Weiler said the long-term goal should be a free higher education system for all students, regardless of where they're from. International students contribute billions to Ontario's economy, and many stay after their degree to become permanent residents or citizens.
It's a top-of-mind issue for many local governments. At a recent <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2020/08/17/amo-2020-ministers-face-questions-on-cost-downloading-child-care-and-poverty-in-first-of-three-bear-pits/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">conference</a>, several municipalities asked Colleges and Universities Minister Ross Romano how Ontario will continue to attract international students, who are also a major boon to local economies, especially in rural and northern parts of the province. Romano said his ministry is looking at ways to tie a percentage of the growth in international student populations in bigger cities to smaller communities.
Premier Doug Ford has often said Ontario needs <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-asks-ottawa-to-double-numbers-of-economic-immigrants-1.4732928" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more</a> skilled immigrants to fill its labour shortage.
A fully public education system can adapt to bumps in the road, like a pandemic, much better, since it's not relying on individuals for funding, Weiler said.
Glover was more circumspect, noting that domestic students are subsidized by government, and international students aren't. The Opposition is calling for ODSP loans to be converted to grants, and for interest on existing loans to be forgiven, he said.
The NDP is also calling for $1,000 payments to each full-time post-secondary student, and for the government to stop <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2020/05/21/confusion-among-students-as-osap-clawed-back-from-federal-covid-19-benefits/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">clawing back federal benefits from OSAP</a>.
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Universities again look to international students to close pandemic funding gaps

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