The Ontario government’s recent announcement to freeze student tuition costs and invest over $1.2 billion into the province’s colleges and universities might seem like a beacon of hope, yet questions linger about its adequacy.
On Feb. 26, the Ontario government introduced the largest investment in post-secondary education in over a decade encompassing several measures to stabilize the funding and deficit problems faced by the province’s colleges and universities.
The Ontario government is also introducing legislation aiming to address students’ mental health and wellness, combat racism and discrimination on campuses and increase transparency around fees for everything from courses to textbooks.
“This is a broad range of measures that will offer much-needed stability to the post-secondary sector and help keep costs down for students and their families,” said Minister of Colleges and Universities Jill Dunlop at a news conference.
Tuition fees will remain frozen for 3 years
The freeze on tuition fees will be extended for Ontario students until at least 2026-2027, the year of the next provincial election. However, institutions will be allowed to increase tuition by up to five per cent for domestic, out-of-province students starting 2024-2025.
The funding increase comprises about $900 million for a three-year post-secondary education sustainability fund, with $200 million earmarked for institutions with the most urgent requirements. Additionally, $167.4 million will be allocated to capital repairs and equipment, $100 million to STEM programs, $65 million to research and innovation, $23 million to mental health support and $15 million to audits aimed at identifying long-term cost reductions.
“It’s never been more important to keep costs down for students and parents,” said Dunlop.
What initiated this reinvestment in post-secondary?
In 2019, Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government under Doug Ford introduced a 10 per cent tuition cut and has frozen tuition fees at that level since. This move was made by the Tories to reduce a multibillion-dollar deficit in direct response to the previous Liberal government’s expansion of OSAP grants.
Under Premier Kathleen Wynne, over 210,000 students were eligible to receive free tuition for their post-secondary education in 2017. The New Ontario grant led to an influx of low- and middle-income domestic students applying to Ontario colleges and universities.
“The recent changes that we saw in September 2017 related to OSAP actually ensured that one in four students could access enough grants to cover all of their tuition fees,” said Nour Alideeb, chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students Ontario, in a 2019 interview.
The next year, Canada was recognized by the OECD as the most educated country in the world with over 56 per cent of all adults having some education after high school.
“We need education to enable people to learn, think, and adapt,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “Our natural resources are important, and they always will be. But Canadians know that what it takes to grow and prosper isn’t just what’s under our feet, it’s what’s between our ears.”
The Tories’ severe changes to OSAP reduced the number of students eligible and converted a large fraction of low-income student funding from grants into loans. Any grants low-income students could qualify for under the Liberals which would cover the cost of tuition are now gone.
The 10 per cent cut and freeze in tuition was intended by Ford to balance out the reduction of grants while still helping students and eliminating the heavy deficit incurred by the province.
Post-secondary institutions were burdened with absorbing the loss of revenue and were forced to increase their dependence on international student tuition.
In 2020, average university fees were $7,938 for domestic undergraduate students and $40,525 for international undergraduate students, the auditor general said in a 2022 report. Ontario universities nearly doubled international student enrolment between 2015 and 2022, and colleges more than tripled.
The situation is becoming “increasingly untenable”
In 2023, a government-commissioned report recommended that additional financial aid for students must be provided based on need, and the institutions’ dependence on international students, especially the province’s colleges, needs to be recognized as a “financial risk.”
“Data shared with the panel confirm that colleges and universities have come to rely more and more on international student tuition fees to the point where the revenue from this source is fundamental to the sector’s financial sustainability,” the report states.
Earlier this year, the federal government announced a cap on international student acceptance in an attempt to combat the housing crisis, though it is a complex issue.
Dunlop describes the international student cap as being done “without consultation, without warning.” Both Colleges Ontario and the Council of Ontario Universities have asked the federal government to cancel or delay implementing the international student visa cap.
Starting this year, Ontario’s allotment of visas for international undergraduate students will be cut in half. Ontario colleges and universities have demanded a long-term solution from the province to the financial mess.
“The situation is becoming increasingly untenable, as universities can no longer continue to absorb cuts and freezes amidst rising inflation and costs, and many are facing deficits, with the growing risk of insolvencies,” Steve Orsini, president of the Council of Ontario Universities, wrote in a statement.
The $1.2 billion funding top-up comes after the government-commissioned report highlighted that funding for full-time domestic students in publicly assisted colleges is lower than in any other province. Additionally, the Council of Ontario Universities has noted at least 10 universities are grappling with operating deficits.
Brock’s is no exception
For the 2024-25 fiscal year, Brock is facing an unprecedented $37 million operating deficit, representing roughly 10 per cent of the institution’s budget. The Board of Trustees will be struggling for the next few months to keep Brock financially sustainable.
Student retention has also become increasingly challenging in recent years and has contributed to reduced tuition revenues for 2024-25 at the level of $5 million.
In Nov. 2023, Brock University President, Lesley Rigg, released a community update on Brock’s struggling financial situation.
“Brock has faced increasing financial pressures for many years. Those pressures have now reached historic levels due to a number of factors,” said President Rigg.
President Rigg voiced her concern over the declining base operating grants from the province. In 2004-05, these grants represented 42 per cent of Brock’s revenue but have dwindled to a mere 25.5 per cent today. The freeze on operating grants since 2006-07 has exacerbated the situation, resulting in a decline of 31 per cent when adjusted for inflation.
The province’s decision in 2019 to slash tuition rates by 10% and maintain the freeze has further strained Brock’s finances, echoing similar challenges faced by other universities such as Queen’s, Guelph, Wilfrid Laurier and Waterloo which are all experiencing historic budget shortfalls.
The extent to which Ontario’s $1.2 billion investment will contribute to balancing Brock’s deficit has yet to be determined.
In the announcement of the investment, Dunlop mentions other measures allowing colleges to offer applied master’s degrees “in areas of study that will help students graduate with in-demand skills, expertise and credentials” such as in advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence and animation.
Dunlop’s list of applied master’s degrees notably excludes any humanities programs, the exact graduate studies Brock University is currently defunding. This decision has left numerous prospective students feeling confused and disappointed, as they now face the reality of being unable to pursue their graduate studies at Brock.
Critics say funding is not a long-term solution
A government-commissioned panel recommended a spending increase of $2.3 billion in Ontario colleges and universities.
“Altogether, between inflation and the loss of international students, the sector was in for a hit of over $2 billion this year,” said Higher Education Strategy Associates President, Alex Usher.
“This package maybe covers 20 per cent of that. It is not a serious attempt to put Ontario’s colleges and universities on solid footing. It is, rather, the act of a government that prefers the appearance of solving problems to actually solving them.”
The Council of Ontario Universities acknowledged the funding with appreciation but emphasized that the “short-term relief,” comes short of what is necessary to maintain the institutions’ sustainability.
“Ontario’s universities now face an eight-year long tuition freeze without adequate multi-year base funding, which continues to undermine the financial sustainability of the sector,” the statement said.
“Our universities are at a breaking point.”
Colleges Ontario, which represents the province’s 24 public colleges, released a similar statement that the government’s funding is insufficient and puts their programs at risk.
“We recognize Ontarians are very concerned about affordability and the high cost of living,” said Colleges Ontario president Marketa Evans.
“At the same time, it’s essential for Ontario to invest in its public college students.”
The Opposition NDP also criticized the provincial government’s announcement:
“It’s clear that this Conservative government does not in any way understand the severity of the crisis,” said London-West MPP Peggy Sattler, the Ontario NDP’s post-secondary critic.
“Decades of chronic underfunding by both Liberal and Conservative governments, plus five years of Ford cuts have pushed our post-secondary institutions to the brink,” said Sattler.
With the international student cap in full effect and the prospects of free tuition for students in the rearview mirror, Ontario’s $1.2 billion reinvestment comes at a time of great struggle for Canadian colleges and universities. How the initiative will ultimately help post-secondary students remains to be seen.
Ontario gov’t pours $1.2B into post-secondary education, freezes tuition hikes amid Brock’s $37M debt crisis
