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By\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aisha Chaudhry, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Surrey Citizen\n <\/p>\n
A funding crisis has hit the Surrey campuses of major post-secondary schools through a combination of underfunding and limits on international students that have reduced the lucrative tuitions paid by them, according to a new report.<\/p>\n
Kwantlen Polytechnic University<\/a> and Simon Fraser University<\/a> have laid off nearly 100 staff members during the past two years due to budget shortfalls.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both have campuses in Surrey and have had to restructure their budgets due to the federal government\u2019s limit on international study permits in 2024. However, they\u2019re not the only schools struggling \u2014 19 of the province\u2019s 25 public institutions are expected to operate at a loss over the next three years.<\/p>\n B.C. Policy Solutions came out with a report<\/a> outlining potential solutions on how to fix the province\u2019s financially strained post-secondary sector. It also found that while the international student limits exacerbated the issue, the problem has been quietly growing after years of underfunding from the provincial government.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe systemic reliance on exorbitant international student tuition is rooted in decades of chronic provincial and federal underfunding and marketization of the sector,\u201d said the report.<\/p>\n Commissioned by the Vancouver Community College Faculty Association, the report\u2019s key recommendations include government funding covering 75 per cent of institutional operating costs, maintaining the two per cent tuition limit policy<\/a> for domestic students, and creating a similar limit for international students, among other things.\u00a0<\/p>\n Today, public funding for post-secondary education is at 40 per cent, according to the report, but in 2000 it was at 68 per cent, leading schools to rely heavily on international student fees.<\/p>\n The report traces how the sector became so reliant on international tuition.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 1920s through to the 1970s saw both the federal and provincial governments funding schools and passing legislation that invested in the construction of new buildings and equipment needed. This period also saw the creation of many new universities and community colleges, including SFU.<\/p>\n In 1976, the federal Immigration Act officially classified international students as different from domestic students. Before, there was no distinction between the two student groups, but the act labelled international students as temporary residents and gave them special social insurance numbers.\u00a0<\/p>\n The report pinpoints the 1980s as the beginning of the halting of generous public funding as there was a roughly 10 per cent cut to university funding and a shift towards tuition reliance. The government also allowed international students to be charged different fees from domestic students, and SFU and the University of British Columbia were the first to take advantage of this.\u00a0<\/p>\n The province passed legislation in 1994 that designated community colleges to university colleges, which allowed them to grant full degrees. KPU was one of these schools. However, the bill did not move these schools into university designations and did not grant the additional funding needed to run degree programs \u2014 this includes things like creating research infrastructure, libraries and labs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Federally, former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney capped and reduced social transfers. This was followed by Jean Chr\u00e9tien merging education, health and social assistance transfers into one fund, meaning the post-secondary sector now had to compete for limited funds.<\/p>\n From 2006 to 2008, all remaining university colleges were converted into teaching universities, including KPU, but again, none received additional funding, leaving the new universities to still run off college level funding. \u00a0<\/p>\n The 2000s saw the federal and provincial governments begin allowing new pathways for international students to become residents and framed education in Canada as a means to residency.\u00a0<\/p>\n International students became a key component of funding B.C.\u2019s post-secondary sector. According to the report, after 2018, most international students came from India, previously it was China, and brought less economic capital and were more interested in immigration.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[Indian international students] were doing exactly what the system was designed for, but they were not the kind of students Canada had imagined: they were not wealthy, they were visibly working hard in the economy and they faced significant racism,\u201d writes the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2024, the federal government started capping the number of international students; it would provide a set number of study permits to each province and then the provincial government would decide each institution\u2019s allocation number.\u00a0<\/p>\n The allocation of student permits was based upon population size, not previous enrolment numbers \u2014 B.C. used to receive up to 30 per cent of Canada\u2019s international students, but only received about 10 per cent of attestation letters.<\/p>\n In March, the Auditor General released a report<\/a> on the reforms \u2014 in B.C. the goal was to reduce new study permits by 18 per cent. In actuality, the number was reduced by 66 per cent, said the report. Across Canada, the report found that new study permits were reduced way over the intended target.\u00a0<\/p>\n The cap marked the destabilization of many schools and the start of waves of programs and services being cut and staff being laid off.\u00a0<\/p>\n KPU saw a total decline of $43 million in international student revenue in the 2024-25 fiscal year. That same year, domestic tuition brought in a little over $40 million. In comparison, international tuition revenue, which was close to $129 million. The 2026-27 budget projects international tuition brought in close to $46 million, a revenue drop of $83 million in two years.<\/p>\n Carole Laplante, KPU\u2019s interim chief financial officer, wrote in a statement that the school has experienced a steep decline in international enrolment and expects that number to decline further as the number of students graduating exceeds the number of new students admitted. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cKPU is required by the province to submit a balanced budget every year. To date, the university has achieved that by cutting costs as revenues have declined,\u201d wrote Laplante.<\/p>\n She notes that the biggest savings have come from workforce reductions.<\/p>\n At a May Board of Governors<\/a> meeting, Laplante said that KPU\u2019s 2026 surplus was less than one per cent of the actual revenue at $200,000. The 2025 surplus was $5.4 million in comparison.\u00a0<\/p>\n The university is also conducting a hiring review, meaning it is only replacing positions needed to maintain operations at a reduced size. KPU has also reduced spending in areas such as travel, professional development and operations at its Civic Plaza Campus in Surrey Central. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cStudents remain central to all that KPU does, and the university has continued to provide the appropriate curriculum and supports they need to complete their programs,\u201d wrote Laplante. \u00a0<\/p>\n Similarly, SFU\u2019s 2025-26 budget reports an operating shortfall of $18 million, with about 85 per cent of the deficit linked to reduction of international students.<\/p>\n In a statement from SFU, the university noted that it expects a balanced operating budget for 2026-27 and that the several structural changes made over the last two years have helped strengthen this position.\u00a0<\/p>\n The school now uses a multi-year financial planning and budgeting approach. \u201cWorkforce planning is included in this budget process to align staffing with long-term objectives. Select restructuring within departments may take place as these plans are implemented,\u201d reads the statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n SFU wrote that it aims to diversify its revenue in the future by adding non-credit professional programming and expanding partnerships that support research and innovation. It notes that SFU is in regular communications with the provincial government and is pleased with the stability of the provincial operating grants.\u00a0<\/p>\n But not everyone is pleased with the provincial government.\u00a0<\/p>\n The province faced backlash in November 2025 for quietly shelving a review of post-secondary funding initially announced in 2022. This past November, the province announced a new post-secondary review<\/a> intended to ensure long term sustainability for the sector \u2014 the report was meant to be completed in March, but has yet to be released. \u00a0<\/p>\n Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills Jessie Sunner, who is also the MLA for Surrey-Newton, wrote in a statement to the Citizen that the report has been received from the independent reviewer, and they are hoping to release it as soon as possible, but did not provide a specific date.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cStudents, staff, faculty, and institutional leaders have been clear about the pressure they are facing and the importance of this work, and we thank them for their thoughtful input and engagement throughout this process,\u201d wrote Sunner.\u00a0<\/p>\n Notably, when the news of the new report came out, many student unions \u2014 including SFU, Capilano, UBC and Alliance of B.C. Students \u2014 criticized<\/a> the report for being rushed. They also raised alarms about the announcement\u2019s<\/a> wording perhaps alluding to universities becoming merged or closed and having no commitment to protect the domestic tuition limit policy. \u00a0<\/p>\n In her statement, Sunner noted that since 2017, the government has increased funding for institutions by more than $1.2 billion, as well as eliminating interest on B.C. student loans and introducing the B.C. Access grant.\u00a0<\/p>\n The $1.2 billion increase over the past several years, however, has been for operational grants, not capital, and has not kept up with inflation, aging infrastructure or unique and increasing institutional mandates.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe scale of enrolment stagnation and decline, along with broader economic pressures, means [the] government must ensure the system remains sustainable within current fiscal realities,\u201d wrote Sunner.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite Sunner acknowledging the B.C. Policy Solutions report identifying the financial pressures facing the system, she did not say the ministry would commit to any of the recommendations, which make clear what is needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, resolving this crisis requires a fundamental shift in values: prioritizing equitable, high-quality public education over market-driven extraction,\u201d reads the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"flag wire: true flag sponsored: false article_type: pubinfo.section: cms.site.custom.site_domain : thespec.com sWebsitePrimaryPublication : publications\/hamilton_spectator bHasMigratedAvatar : false firstAuthor.avatar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[238,3290,4698,4669,4250,36694,4668,97],"class_list":["post-101253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-bc","tag-crisis","tag-funding","tag-lji","tag-post","tag-secondary","tag-spare_news","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}