According to a report by Toronto consultancy Higher Education Strategy Associates (HESA), the COVID-19 pandemic is projected to have a smaller impact on the financial resources of Canada’s prestigious universities—such as the University of Toronto—than university administrators had previously thought.
The report arrives after pressure from a petition by UofT undergraduates and advocacy by student unions—including the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (VUSAC) and the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU)—for UofT to lower their fees due to the shift online.
The cost of tuition for UofT’s domestic students has remained the same throughout the pandemic, while it has risen in accordance with pre-pandemic plans for its international students. However, UofT has lowered non-academic ancillary fees related to student services, recreation, and athletics.
Conclusions defy earlier expectations set by universities
Tuition from international students comprises a substantial part of UofT’s funding. The university’s latest publicly available enrolment report for 2019–20 from February noted its plans to increase the percentage of international full-time undergraduate students to 28 percent by 2024–2025. That year, UofT noted that its 20,290 full-time international students comprised “25.4 percent of total undergraduate and graduate enrolment.”
Domestic UofT undergraduates have been approved to pay a tuition fee of $6,100 at the Faculty of Arts & Science (FAS) for 2020–21, while international UofT undergraduates have been set to pay a tuition fee around $55,000 depending on their year of entry, according to a March report by the University.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, universities and colleges reported to The Globe and Mail that they anticipated “financial losses possibly in the billions of dollars due to a drop in international enrolments caused by the global pandemic.”
Denise Amyot, President of Colleges and Institutes Canada, added to The Globe that “a mid-June survey showed colleges expected their new international enrolments to fall by two-thirds this term, from about 90,000 to 30,000.”
But the impact of COVID-19 on enrolment has been far less for universities than colleges, according to the October HESA report. “[F]inancial health is not as tightly correlated to international enrollments in the University sector as it is in colleges,” wrote HESA President Alex Usher. Usher also underscored that Canada’s more prestigious universities are less likely to experience a drop in international enrolment, compared to universities lesser-known abroad.
The results of a newer study also conflict with a previous forecast, which predicted that international student enrolment in Canada would drop
In April, The Globe reported findings from consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds that 15 percent of over 2,800 international students planning to study in Canada had cancelled their plans. That has since changed; a summer research report by consultancy Ernst & Young has projected that Canada stands to gain a projected 6% increase in international student enrolment this year, at the overall cost of decreased international enrolment in the United States.
“[R]elatively few students plan to cancel plans for study abroad this year, with most planning to defer their program starts to later in 2020 or 2021,” summarized the ICEF Monitor in July in response to the report.
That aligns with preliminary data reported by The Globe and Mail, which noted in September that universities “including the University of British Columbia and the University of Alberta… said international acceptances are in line with previous years.” However, they added that these figures “aren’t firm as students still have a month to withdraw.”
The University of Toronto’s current position
Dr. Micah Stickel, UofT’s Vice Provost, Students, wrote to The Strand: “No changes have been made to planned tuition levels as academic programs continue to be delivered through alternative means and we are making significant investments in virtual learning and educational supports.”
Justifying the plans, he wrote: “At this point, we do not expect to see significant reductions in overall operating revenue. During the pandemic, we have seen significant cost increases in many areas, including repatriation of students who were overseas during the initial lockdown.”
Dr. Stickel highlighted that “[a]ll service fees were suspended as of March 2020,” with a reduction in incidental fees. “Since March, we’ve also provided more than seven million dollars in emergency funding to students who are facing unexpected costs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and that program is continuing.”
The impact of COVID-19 on student financials
Michelle Zhao, VUSAC President, is critical of UofT’s policies. She wrote to The Strand: “I am disappointed in the University’s lack of action and transparency regarding the current tuition and ancillary fees for both domestic and international students.”
“I am even more disappointed by the appalling percent increase in international student tuition during the pandemic, during which international students experienced extreme hardships and uncertainty in housing, ineligibility for CERB/CESB and other financial aid, as well as economic struggles in their home countries,” she continued.
Calling for action, she advocates for UofT to be more transparent in its allocation of funds and “include students in their decision-making process.” She continued: “If [UofT decision-makers] are claiming that transitioning online is expensive, then they should publish those expenses and ask students how online learning can be made better.”
Asked about VUSAC’s response to students facing financial insecurity to COVID-19, Zhao wrote that VUSAC has reduced its fees by 35 percenttwice “to $8.11 for full-time students and $4.83 for part time students.” She also highlighted VUSAC’s plans to establish “a BIPOC student leader award” as an additional funding source for Victoria College students.
Tyler Riches, Vice-President Public & University Affairs at the UTSU, commented to The Strand: “The UTSU [believes] that the quality of education has suffered as a result of the shift to online learning, and that students are in need of tuition relief during this crisis, as many struggle to navigate job loss, housing, food security, and more.”
They added: “[A]t a time when international students need support, the last thing they should be facing is a tuition increase. The onus is on the University to step up and provide financial support to students.”
Riches has called on UofT to revise “the tuition fee framework to reduce the cost of tuition for classes operating remotely, and further [invest] in the university’s financial aid apparatus, particularly for low-income and international students.”
They also noted that the UTSU is working “to lobby the federal government for greater financial support for students” by increasing “investments to the Canada Student Grant program and [implementing] a two-year grace period on federal student loans.”
Dr. Don Drummond, Adjunct Professor at the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University, has also advocated in a memo to the C.D. Howe Institute for direct investment by policymakers and universities to provide direct financial support to students.
“Additional funding for scholarships will be required for students by next September,” wrote Dr. Drummond. “[M]any students will suffer an income loss that could jeopardize their return to studies.” He also called for universities to create additional student research and teaching opportunities, opining that the experience will make it easier for graduates to find employment.
“The additional research capacity would benefit society in many ways,” he continued. “Graduate students could be used to help universities and colleges with the task of converting learning platforms to remote modes.”
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