Post-secondary schools are cutting programs across Ontario. Should it be a bigger election issue?

Mark Kirkpatrick, president of Belleville, Ont., based Loyalist College, says he's seen better times, as budget constraints have forced his school to cut 24 programs, or 30 per cent of all programs offered.

"We've had to make some extremely difficult decisions here at the college," he said.

Loyalist, like many colleges across the province, had relied on tuition from international students to subsidize a lot of the domestic delivery of its programs. But federal policy changes that limited international student enrolment have impacted post-secondary school funding and led to major program cuts at schools across the country, particularly those in Ontario. 

Yet some observers question if this issue has received the attention it deserves during this Ontario election campaign, and ask whether party leaders are offering any workable solutions to stem the loss of these programs.

Kirkpatrick says local party candidates do realize the significance of the issue, but as for the party leaders: "Provincially, I don't hear a lot of discussion about it," he said. 

"I'm not sure that that message has gotten through from a provincial perspective."

Alex Usher, president of Higher Education Strategy Associates, a consultant group focused on post-secondary education, said that during this campaign, he was surprised that college closures haven't generated as much controversy as he would have expected. 

"I think we're going to end up with over 1,000 program closures at the college level in this province," he told CBC's Metro Morning earlier this week. "There are going to be a lot fewer choices for Ontario students going forward."

Ontario provides the lowest level of funding per pupil in Canada, according to a 2021 auditor general report. To make up that shortfall, colleges and universities have increased their intake of international students because they pay a higher tuition rate. Across 24 public colleges, 68 per cent of all tuition fee revenue comes from international students, according to that report.

But last September, citing concerns that population growth was putting pressure on the rental market, the federal government announced it would slash the number of international student visas it issues by 10 per cent. For 2025, Ontario recorded a 23 per cent drop in international post-secondary applications, the government announced last month.

With fewer international students, some schools have announced the suspension of dozens of programs. Colleges across Ontario, including St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Algonquin College in Ottawa, and Centennial College and Seneca College in Toronto have all announced cuts.  

Meanwhile, earlier this week, York University became the first university to announce program suspensions. Rallies were also held at colleges across the province this week to protest cuts to classes and programs.

Louis Volante, an educational studies professor at Brock University in St. Catharines, said Ontario's per-pupil funding, with caps on international students and the "corridor funding" model, which caps the number of domestic students, has created the "perfect tsunami."

But he says the response to these issues from the Ontario political parties has been somewhat predictable: "Quite muted and obscure sort of policy positions."