International Students: Are We Better Off Without Them?

International students first arrived in Canada in modest numbers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A significant increase was recorded during the 1993-94 school year when Statistics Canada noted a remarkable 87,000 international students studying across various Canadian institutions. Since then, the numbers have continued to rise.

By 2023, Statistics Canada reported the highest number of new study permits issued in a single calendar year, reaching between 525,920 and 530,000. However, these figures fell sharply in 2024 due to federal policy changes, intake caps, and stricter eligibility requirements. According to Statistics Canada, full-time international student enrollment fell 4% in 2024-2025 and then plummeted 26% in 2025-2026.

Amid these reductions and general uncertainty, two critical questions remain: 

1.   How are the institutions most affected by these changes coping with this sudden downturn?
2.   Additionally, have we achieved the goals of reducing international student enrollment?

The Effect on Canadian Academic Institutions: A Bottom Line in Tatters.

The cuts have severely impacted Canadian academic institutions. Ontario universities project total revenue losses exceeding $2.1 billion: $300 million in 2025, $700 million this year, and $1.1 billion in 2027. Provincial colleges are similarly affected, anticipating $140 million in direct losses, leading to over 600 program suspensions and thousands of staff layoffs.

International students typically pay tuition fees several times higher than those of domestic students. This revenue let provinces limit domestic tuition increases because international fees helped cover labs, libraries, faculty salaries, and building projects. Over time, this income became essential to many schools’ operating budgets, enabling them to expand programs and invest in facilities. However, when international enrollment began to decline, the resulting loss of tuition revenue also severely affected the institutions and the ecosystems they had built around sustained growth.

As expected, personnel felt the impact first. In the past 15 months, numerous universities have announced layoffs, hiring freezes, and early retirement offers. Employees, from professors to support staff, are concerned about what the future holds. Furthermore, local students who previously benefited from lower tuition rates are now feeling financial strain as that support diminishes.

Programs are also being scrutinized. Universities are merging, pausing, or closing low-enrollment courses, particularly in fields that relied on international students to fill seats. These changes inevitably reduce options for local students, highlighting how a single funding change can ripple across an entire campus.

Moreover, it’s essential to recognize that the scapegoating of international students, fueled by right-wing and conservative voices in Ottawa and provincial capitals, was wrongly seen as a fix for Canada’s various issues, from housing shortages and rising crime to unemployment. Hence, it’s reasonable to ask: how many of these problems have been resolved by the drastic decrease in student numbers? Ideally, we hope for a complete resolution. However, the problems appear to have worsened.

Impact 1: In college towns nationwide, landlords, restaurants, shops, and transit systems that thrived on large student populations are noticing fewer customers. Many small cities relied on international students to support local businesses.

Fact: In 2024, international students contributed $47.5 billion (gross) to the Canadian economy through tuition, accommodations, and discretionary spending. This translated to a net contribution of $39.0 billion to Canada’s GDP, roughly 1.4% of the nation’s total economy.

Ontario, home to the largest number of students, contributed the most to GDP, at $20.2 billion (51.7% of the total). This spending generated $9.4 billion in government tax revenues (Source: Global Affairs Canada).

Impact 2: Another key metric in economic impact analysis is job creation. In 2024, international students’ spending supported 407,262 jobs (equivalent to 281,040 full-time equivalents) in the Canadian economy.

Furthermore, because international students’ spending generates revenue for goods and services from overseas, their contributions count as exports of Canadian educational services.

Impact 3: According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the national vacancy rate in the rental housing market rose to 3.1% in 2025. Rent growth has also slowed, with the average rent for a two-bedroom, purpose-built apartment rising 5.1% to $1,550, down from the faster growth the previous year. CMHC attributed this shift to a sudden change in population dynamics following years of rapid growth in new arrivals.

Impact 4: Crime statistics. A 2025 report from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) revealed that despite lower overall numbers, criminal organizations (not individual students) continued to exploit the visa system for their operations, including extortion-related shootings and other criminal activities in Canada. As a result, there was no significant decrease in crime statistics that could be linked to legitimate international students.

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