Algonquin College is recommending to its Board of Governors that it suspend 30 academic programs to address the financial impact of a drop in international students and funding shortfalls from the provincial government.
The Ottawa-area college, which also has campuses in Pembroke and Perth, is looking at suspending a raft of programs, including journalism, financial services, paralegal, and hotel and restaurant management.
Julie Beauchamp, the school’s senior vice-president academic, said in a memo that Algonquin faces a significant budget shortfall and is under financial pressure.
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“Over the past year, we have taken a number of steps to mitigate these challenges and to position the college for a financially sustainable future. These decisions have been difficult,” she said.
It’s the second time in a year that Algonquin has announced a large number of program suspensions, having already announced more than 30 program suspensions last February, as well as the pending closing of its Perth campus.
If the latest suspensions are approved by the board, new enrolments in the affected programs will cease before the fall term. Students already enrolled and those starting in the spring term will be able to complete their programs, the college said.
The college said in an explanatory note that it is responding to recent policy decisions by the federal government and “prevailing provincial funding shortfalls.” It also said there have been “rapid and significant shifts in the postsecondary landscape, including enrolment volatility and changing labour market and student demand.”
Two Ontario colleges face deep cuts as foreign-student cap shrinks enrolment, reports show
Postsecondary institutions across the country have been dealing with significant financial fallout from the federal government’s decision in 2024 to cut the number of international study permits. Over the past 15 years, international tuition revenue came to play a prominent role in funding postsecondary institutions in Canada, and the decline in international enrolments has led many schools to announce cuts.
More than 8,000 jobs have been lost in Ontario’s college sector alone and more than 600 programs have been suspended.
Since the initial limits on international study permits were introduced two years ago, Ottawa has changed its policy several times, which some postsecondary leaders believe has hurt student recruitment and had a negative impact on Canada’s reputation as a study destination.
In its budget last November, the federal government announced it would further reduce the number of new study permits it will issue to 155,000 this year, down from about 306,000. The government has said it aims to reduce the number of temporary residents in the country to ease pressure on housing and health care.
In addition to the impact of federal policy, the Ontario government has frozen domestic tuition fees since 2019. According to a report from the province’s Financial Accountability Office published last year, Ontario had the lowest per-student rate of funding for domestic college students in the country, based on figures from 2022-23.
Bianca Giacoboni, a spokeswoman for Nolan Quinn, the Ontario Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security, said Algonquin and the entire college sector is responding to the international student policy changes imposed by the federal government.
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She said the provincial government is currently working with postsecondary institutions to modernize their funding model.
“Our government will continue to support colleges and universities,” Ms. Giacoboni said. “In the last year alone, we have invested nearly a billion dollars into our publicly assisted colleges and universities to fund over 100,000 more seats in programs that produce graduates to meet Ontario’s labour market demands – this is in addition to the historic $1.3-billion we invested in 2024.”
The union that represents college faculty at Algonquin said it was not consulted about the program suspensions before they were announced, which it argues is contrary to the governance rules in the collective agreement.
“Make no mistake, these cuts cut to the core of what a college should be,” said Tracy Henderson, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 415.
“These are not marginal cuts. They are programs with strong community ties, clear labour-market relevance, and deep significance for students, faculty and the broader public interest.”
Ms. Henderson said it’s not yet clear how many faculty and staff jobs may be affected.