New rules that cap the number of international students and make it more difficult for them to work in Canada while they’re studying and after they graduate are having a detrimental effect on post-secondary school enrolments across the country. Cutbacks to programs and staff are imminent.
The College of New Caledonia anticipates very few international students will arrive in the new year and unless changes are made, the college is expecting an operating deficit for the 2025-2026 fiscal year due to the decline in student enrolment.
To tighten its purse strings, the college plans to eliminate vacant positions deemed non-essential and will consider cutting some programs. CNC also plans to revise enrolment targets and adjust program capacities to help balance the budget, and that could mean layoffs across the board for all employee groups who work at the college.
“We know we will have less international students and so that’s what we’re working on, we don’t have a definitive plan, we’re still doing that and meeting with all our budget managers looking for efficiencies and ways that we can reduce the budget,” said Shelley Carter-Rose, CNC’s vice-president, student affairs and acting vice-president, academic.
“Our enrolment in January is down significantly but we’re just opening enrolment for fall 2025 and this is the 2025-26 budget,” she said.
“We really need to be mindful that we will have to provide supports and services and education and so where can we reduce and where can we cut, we’re trying to be student-centred. We still have returning international students and returning and new domestic students and it’s a balancing act in terms of where we can find efficiencies.”
The changes for international students, first announced in mid-January 2024, mean some programs are no longer aligned with the classification of instructional programming (CIP), which ultimately dictates whether or not they can work in Canada after they graduate.
On Oct. 4, the federal government announced 966 academic programs that qualify for post-graduate work permits. The approved programs were largely based on occupations in which Canada is experiencing a shortage of skilled workers and the broad list included agriculture, healthcare, science/technology/engineering/mathematics (STEM), trade and transport.
Excluded programs for international students now ineligible for post-graduate work permits are business programs of any kind, tourism, hospitality, general arts and social sciences. Graduate international students are also required to meet language requirements to obtain a work permit.
Carter-Rose said the federal CIF list does not recognize regional needs for workers, but there’s no way to adjust it.
“We were surprised that there was very little consultation, so making decisions for the entire country in terms of labour market needs, we all know every community has different needs in terms of employment,” she said.
CNC was not sure of the implications of the new regulations until the start of November when deadlines for program applications were reached.
International student enrolment for January is half of what it was for the fall term. That translates to about 100 fewer international students. Carter-Rose says students are either not applying or are not finishing the application process.
“One of our challenges is the Canadian reputation has been harmed, so students are deciding even if they’re accepted whether they’re coming or not,” said Carter-Rose.
The tuition revenue stream makes up about a quarter of CNC’s $97.7 million budget for 2024-25. International students pay more for their tuition. While tuition increases for domestic students have been capped at two per cent annually since 2001 for domestic students. International tuition is up to the discretion of the schools.
Carter-Rose said CNC’s overall tuition costs ranks fourth-lowest out of 11 BC colleges.
“When we interview international students they consistently tell us the reason they come to CNC is because of our affordability,” said Carter-Rose. “The college has been very international about not increasing (tuition) as high in some schools as 10 and 12 per cent. We’ve stayed at four per cent and we’re gong to stay at four per cent for the next two years.
‘We also have the opportunity to build investment in our domestic students and we have seen increases there and are looking forward to that continuing. We know we had to build more capacity with our domestic through COVID and we were silent in our community because we couldn’t engage with our high schools and that relationship with the three school districts has increased and improved immensely.”
CNC currently has about 3,200 full-time equivalent students at its campuses in Prince George, Burns Lakes, Fort St. James, Vanderhoof, Quesnel and Mackenzie.
Carter-Rose said CNC has purposely been reducing its ratio of foreign students the past three years to fall in line with provincial guidelines which call for 70 per cent domestic students and 30 per cent international. The college is now closer to 60:40 ratio and had planned on meeting provincial targets in the next three-five years. Now, with the new restrictions, that mitigation target will be much sooner attained.
The licensed practical nursing program in Quesnel for the fall term was cancelled last spring due to a lack of enrolment. Despite the demand for nurses, Carter-Rose said just two students applied for a program that was targeted for eight students.
On Friday (Nov. 15) restrictions took effect on the number of hours foreign students are allowed to work off-campus. That’s now capped at 24 hours per week while classes are in session.
To work off-campus without a work permit, international students must be studying full-time in a post-secondary academic, vocational or professional training program, or a vocational training program at the secondary level that lasts at least six months and leads to a degree, diploma or certificate.
Those eligible to work off-campus are allowed to work full-time during breaks in their academic calendar, such as the summer break between school years or the winter break between semesters.
International students are also required to apply and be approved for a new study permit before changing schools.
