Ontario’s public colleges are facing unprecedented financial strain, forcing them to slash programs, cut staff, and close campuses as they struggle to stay afloat. Years of chronic underfunding, combined with federal restrictions on international student permits, have created a crisis across the province’s 24 public colleges, leaving many institutions with multi-million-dollar deficits.
Colleges had long relied on international tuition fees to offset insufficient provincial funding, with some institutions generating three to four times more revenue from international students than domestic ones. However, the federal government’s new cap on study permits and restrictions on work eligibility have severely disrupted this financial model, forcing colleges to cut dozens of programs with little notice.
At Algonquin College, one of Ontario’s largest institutions, 37 programs were suspended during a recent board meeting, including business, creative arts, and media studies. The school is also shutting down its satellite campus in Perth, Ontario. Other colleges—including St. Lawrence, Mohawk, Centennial, and Seneca—have made similar program and staff reductions, raising concerns about limited options for students and the loss of training in key fields.
While officials defend the cuts as a necessary response to shifting immigration policies, faculty and education advocates argue that Ontario’s long-standing underfunding of post-secondary institutions is the real issue. The province provides just $6,553 per full-time student—only 41% of the national average—leaving schools with little choice but to rely on international tuition, despite warnings that this was an unstable model.
Adding to the strain, Ontario colleges have been unable to raise domestic tuition fees since 2019, when the Ford government imposed a 10% reduction and six-year freeze on tuition rates. As inflation and salary costs have risen by 25% over the last decade, schools say they are now operating at an unsustainable loss.
Algonquin President Claude Brulé has called for a new funding model that allows colleges to properly serve domestic students, rather than depending on volatile international enrollment. However, with no immediate funding relief in sight, Ontario’s college system continues to contract at an alarming pace, leaving students, staff, and entire communities bracing for further cuts.