Ontario’s struggling universities and colleges are again sounding the alarm, begging the Ford government to set aside billions more for post-secondary education.
During pre-budget consultations and submissions, groups representing both colleges and universities asked for significantly more funding, saying tuition fee freezes and international student caps have left them with few options.
“Right now, Ontario universities are the lowest funded in the country when you look at it per student,” Council of Ontario Universities president and CEO Steve Orsini told MPPs on Wednesday.
“We are funded at 55 per cent of the rest of Canada on the per student basis.”
Orsini said the impacts of a 2024 federal cap on the number of international students who can come to Ontario “far exceed” any funding increases from the province. He said, even with widespread cuts, the finances still don’t add up.
“Despite these cuts, the sector faces deficits of $265 million this year, and the funding gap is expected to grow to $1.3 billion by 2028-29,” Orsini said.
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“Cuts such as these weaken the very foundation that helps Ontario adapt, grow and compete.”
Universities are asking the province to increase annual operating funding by $1.2 billion in the coming year, up to $1.6 billion in 2028-29.
Colleges are looking for a similar increase — asking the province to increase operational and other funding by $1.5 billion.
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The province’s public colleges and universities have endured two years of cuts and layoffs since a federal cap on the number of international students was introduced and then tightened.
Shortly after the Progressive Conservatives won the 2018 election, they cut college tuition by 10 per cent and then froze it, with public colleges increasingly relying on international students to make up the shortfall.
Before the cap came into place, Ontario colleges were drawing an average of roughly 30 per cent of their revenue from international students.
Colleges Ontario has said its members have already cut $1.8 billion, suspended 600 programs and shed 8,000 jobs.
The government has stayed silent on whether it will address the issue of a tuition fee increase, saying it is concentrating on updating the core funding formula for post-secondary education.
Few details of what is under consideration have been released, although the review is something Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security Nolan Quinn references almost every time he is asked about funding or tuition.
Toward the end of 2025, he repeated the promise that the results of a detailed review might unlock new funding.
“We’ve been meeting all summer with our stakeholders — through the 47 publicly-assisted colleges and universities, understanding where the costs have changed,” Quinn said at a news conference.
Quinn added that a key area of reviews would be “weighted grant units,” an area of the formula he said represents the “funding given toward a specific program.” He said changes to that part of the formula would be major.
“It’s been over a decade since we’ve really looked at our funding formula review, and we’re looking at all aspects of it and understanding the costs have changed,” he said.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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