Subsidies to Ontario post-secondary schools haven’t been officially announced but are already being criticised as a drop in the leaky bucket.
Canadian news outlets are reporting the Ontario provincial government will cough up $1.2 billion this upcoming week to offset some of the international losses sustained by the public higher education system.
Funding will be allocated based on the needs of individual institutions that apply for it, the source said. The province has had a tuition freeze since 2019 that, until recently, was covered by international tuition. About a month ago, the federal government announced a significant reduction in visa approvals for incoming international students that is hitting Ontario institutions particularly hard. Ontario has the lowest funding in the country on a per-student basis.
A blue ribbon panel established by the government reported last November that the fiscal sustainability of higher education in Ontario is “currently at serious risk.” The panel had proposed a ten per cent boost in government funding to the sector with future annual increases set at two per cent or the rate of inflation, and a five per cent tuition increase this fall. The panel recommendations would cost about $2.5 billion over three years.
“The $1 billion in funding over three years is just $330 million a year,” said Ken Steele, Eduvation Inc. owner and Higher Ed futurist. “Enough to cover a few of the worst deficits, but not all of them. It doesn’t actually change much, but to voters, it probably looks like they are doing something.”
Steele believes the Ontario government is unlikely to provide much more in the way of support or a new funding model.
“Premier Ford’s immediate response to the Blue Ribbon Panel likely reflects his innermost thoughts on the subject,” said Steele. “Institutions need to get more efficient rather than getting more support from government.”
