Quebec universities face $200M shortfall amid international student drop

At least seven universities in Quebec are forecasting budget deficits for the 2025–26 academic year, raising concerns that deep cuts could be on the horizon.

Université de Montréal is projecting a shortfall of $9.7 million, while Concordia University anticipates a deficit of nearly $32 million.

Christian Blanchette, president of the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire (BCI), which represents the province's universities, said the sector is being squeezed by two major pressures: a lack of government support for salary increases and inflation, and a steep drop in international student applications.

"We know that some universities have already announced that they would have people being let go," Blanchette said in an interview.

According to the BCI, applications from international students have fallen by an average of 43 per cent. That could translate into a 30 per cent decline in actual enrolments, leading to an estimated $200 million loss in revenue across Quebec's university network.

"To have a situation like that for one year can be very devastating for a number of universities," Blanchette said.

He attributes the downturn to the provincial government's decision to cap the number of international students, a move he says has damaged Quebec's reputation abroad.

Despite these financial constraints and an uncertain economic outlook, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) says it has managed to balance its 2025–26 budget, in part due to an anticipated increase in fall enrolment.

Université Laval, meanwhile, has tightened spending and made tough decisions about which projects to prioritize in order to stay in the black.

At McGill University, the budget was balanced mainly through staff attrition and retirements. The university is forecasting a 10 percent drop in international undergraduate students and warns that a steeper decline would significantly impact revenues.

In February, Premier François Legault's government announced that universities would not be permitted to admit more international students than they did in 2024.

But that baseline year was already weak, Blanchette points out, because Ottawa had imposed a cap on international student permits earlier in the year. That policy led to an initial 15 percent drop in international enrolments across Quebec's universities.

Recent data collected by his organization and shared with the Ministry of Higher Education shows a 43 percent drop in international applications between early April 2024 and the same period this year, with francophone universities seeing the steepest declines.

At Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), the decrease is around 60 percent, according to Blanchette, who is also that university's rector.