(Credit: Fanshawe College website picture)
After months of navigating international student caps set in place by the federal government, Fanshawe College is facing a much lower foreign-student number than usual.
At this time last year, the number of international students sat at 8,500, and has since decreased to 4,200, showing a 50 per cent loss in international student enrolment.
Massive revenue losses are being seen as international students pay two to three times as much as the average domestic student. This is in contrast to Fanshawe’s formerly held third-largest international student population in Canada, after Conestoga College and University West.
With a lack of international profits, 35 per cent of Fanshawe’s work force is being forcibly cut by the end of the 2024-25 school year, and 40 programs have been shut down this term.
President of the FSU, Jerry Thomas (Credit: Dan McCracken, XFM News 2025)
“Students may face fewer program options, especially for 1 to 1 programs where choices are already limited,” says Jerry Thomas, president of the Fanshawe Student Union.
“Some support services have been reduced, and counselling services have seen cuts as well,” Thomas said. “Reductions can limit resources for Fanshawe students navigating both academic and settlement changes.”
The college faces a projected cumulative deficit of $72 million by March 2027.
“I’m not sure if there will be further staff cuts,” said Thomas, “the underfunding of Ontario colleges by the provincial government is a major factor.”
This comes as Officials with the College Employer Council recently made a statement that the OPSEU bargaining unit and its members are in a position to strike.
This could put full-time support workers at the college in a legal strike beginning as early as September 11.
