Rumblings and rumours out of Queen’s Park suggest that the Conservative provincial government is about to dictate a ten percent tuition cut at Ontario’s colleges and universities, taking effect during the academic year that begins this fall (2019-20), followed by a tuition freeze of at least one year in 2020-21.
The almost out-of-the-blue and sparsely detailed announcement in mid-January caught most postsecondary administrators and even many student leaders and lobbyists off-guard, because tuition reductions were rarely – if ever – mentioned during the summer-of-2018 election that brought the Conservatives to power.
If carried out, tuition for domestic/Canadian students at Ontario colleges would be cut by approximately $340 per year for the vast majority of programs, and $660 for the “average” university student.
Tuition for international students would remain unregulated, according to preliminary indications coming out of Queen’s Park.
This year (2018-19), St. Clair is taking in approximately $28.7 million from 7,600 domestic students.
A ten percent reduction would mean that the college would lose $2.87 million in 2019-20 (assuming that domestic enrolment remained as-is).
Province-wide, it is projected that the 24 public colleges could lose $80-100 million dollars in revenue if the tuition reduction is implemented.
Not revealed, at this point, is whether the provincial government intends to provide the schools with any sort of special, transitional funding, to “cushion the blow” to their budgets caused by the loss of cash.
Failing that, revenue reductions must usually be offset by servicing cuts and/or staffing reductions.
Colleges Ontario, the lobbying organization for the two dozen schools, issued a number of “talking points” in response to the government’s (apparent) intentions:
• We think this is puzzling as (“exorbitant”) tuition isn’t an issue at colleges.
• Ontario’s colleges currently have some of the lowest tuition fees in the country.
• Three provinces have lower tuition rates, but their operating grants are significantly higher. When tuition and operating grants are combined, Ontario colleges get about $1,500 less per student than any other province.
• Our average funding per student (operating grant plus tuition) is just under $9,000. The universities in Ontario get approximately $15,000 per student.
• The revenue provided to colleges on a per-student basis is less than the amounts provided to universities and high schools.
• College programs are highly accessible to students in all family income quartiles.
St. Clair Student Representative Council (SRC) President Holly Nicholson issued these comments via social media:
From the outset, I have to emphasize that we don't have enough information, yet, to fully determine the impact of what has been rumoured.
As a student, and a student leader, I can say that anything that makes education more affordable is a very good thing.
However, we're very aware of the financial constraints that have affected this college, and many other small- and medium-sized colleges in the past ... and unless there is some sort of new provincial funding support to cushion this revenue reduction, it is going to be a concern.
I'm not sure that we can make up for, in enrolment, what will be lost in revenue. People might think that a tuition reduction will encourage more students to enrol – and maybe it will, to a slight degree – but the population numbers of college-aged young people just doesn't exist in this area to completely make up for the revenues we may be talking about. (Editor’s Note: To keep the revenue total as-is, under the reduced tuition scenario, St. Clair would have to attract approximately ten percent more domestic students in the fall. Where might it find those 760 students?)
As a student leader, also, I've very anxious to see if this tuition reduction is going to be coupled with a tightening of student aid eligibility or funding. If it is, one may offset the other, and we'll really be no farther ahead in the overall financial picture.
We'll be keeping a very close eye on this situation as more details are provided, and will pass along information as it becomes available.
