A major union is again sounding the alarm for Ontario’s public colleges as international student enrolment drops to a trickle, programs are cut and major layoffs take place.

On Tuesday, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union released information that suggests the sector faces close to 10,000 job losses and the cancellation or suspension of some 600 programs.

A recent arbitration decision on an issue between the union and the College Employer Council shed some light on the extent of difficulty the sector was going through after an early 2024 federal cap on international students.

The arbitrator wrote in his decision that 23 of Ontario’s 24 public sector colleges reported a 48 per cent decline in enrolment of international students between September 2023 and the following year.

As a result, by the spring of 2025, more than 600 programs were cancelled or suspended at those colleges. Four institutions have also closed campuses or announced they will close them.

The arbitrator called the situation “alarming,” pointing to layoffs numbering more than 8,000 people across 19 of Ontario’s 24 colleges. OPSEU calculates that the number is almost 10,000 if you include layoffs at the colleges that have not yet submitted their information.

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The current pain at Ontario’s colleges can be traced back to the introduction of the federal cap on international students last year.

In that case, Ottawa limited the number of students who could get study permits in each province. The Ford government kept university enrolment steady and reduced the numbers at colleges.

It was a hammer blow to the sector’s revenue, which had for years relied on international students for funding. Government documents estimate that, before the cap, roughly 32 per cent of college revenue came from those joining from abroad.

OPSEU argues that a reliance on international students allowed the provincial government to shirk its funding responsibilities.

“Our communities are paying the cost of a crisis manufactured by provincial underfunding — and workers are prepared to build the provincial, coordinated fightback we need to realize a better college system,” the union said in a statement.

While cuts are being made on campuses, annual salary disclosure data shows pay for leadership at the top of Ontario’s colleges has grown. The best-paid college president in Ontario earned more than $600,000 in 2024, while the second-highest pay was almost $500,000.

Critics of the Ford government have argued it must offer better funding to public colleges to avoid further cuts, which could destroy jobs in some smaller communities.

After the international student cap came in, the province unveiled just over $1 billion in funding for the sector. That was less than the number recommended by the province’s own expert panel.

In the spring, it offered another $750 million for the sector, tied to STEM programs.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security said the claim that the government had deliberately underfunded post-secondary education to create a crisis was “baseless and categorically false,” pointing to recent investments.

They pointed out that the cap on international students came from the federal government and said cuts were decided by individual institutions.

“Decisions related to programming, campus closures, human resources, operational and budgeting decisions lie solely with each institution,” the spokesperson said.

“As we always have, our government will continue making the necessary investments into our publicly-assisted system to ensure our students get into programs that launch successful careers and positively contribute to our economy.”

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