No more cheap diplomas: Quebec will stop subsidizing the studies of English-speaking Canadians who come here to earn a diploma for a fraction of the price in their province. In addition, tuition fees from foreign students will in future be used to finance French-speaking universities.
“We no longer want to fund these Canadian students who come to us to study, most of them on preferential terms, and then return to their province of origin. Given the current labor shortage, I think we have to put an end to this policy of preferential rates,” explains the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, in an interview.
His government will announce today that tuition fees for a Canadian student from outside Quebec, currently $8,992, will rise to almost $17,000 a year starting next year. Quebec states that this amount covers all costs related to their education.
The measure only applies to bachelor’s and professional master’s programs such as the MBA. In addition, students who are already studying continue to pay the reduced rate.
The minister’s office declined to comment on the amount imposed on French speakers outside Quebec, but stressed that the current exemptions still apply. The minister also “wants” to offer advantageous rates to French Canadians, it is stressed.
Hearty bill
The Journal recently revealed that taxpayers in Quebec pay $200 million a year to subsidize the education of students from English Canada and abroad enrolled in English-speaking universities. These public resources contribute “directly” to the Anglicization of Quebec, denounced Martin Maltais, professor of education finance at the University of Quebec in Rimouski.
It must be said that certain programs represent a real bargain compared to other provinces. At the University of Toronto, for example, a year of baccalaureate in administration costs $15,900. To study law you will have to pay almost $35,000.
Foreign students
What is also new is that Quebec now charges a minimum price of around $20,000 for foreign students at all universities, both English-speaking and French-speaking. The difference of about $3,000 between the average cost of a student and the required amount will be used to increase funding for French-language institutions.
However, universities are still free to prescribe the amount they want and keep the difference. Currently, tuition fees for international students across the network average $26,000.
Fund the Franco network
This initiative is part of Minister Jean-François Roberge’s plan to protect the French language.
The two measures are expected to generate approximately $150 million per year. “The entire financial flexibility that we can generate will be reinvested exclusively in the French-speaking network through several measures,” assures Minister Déry.
Quebec therefore wants to expand the French-speaking network, which is struggling to compete with its English-speaking counterpart.
One of the options being considered would be to grant reduced rates to students from other French-speaking countries. “This will accelerate the increase in the number of employees we will have in the French-speaking university network,” estimates Pascale Déry.
It will cost more
- Student from Quebec in 2022-2023: $2881
- Canadians outside Quebec currently: $8992
- Canadians outside Quebec next year: ~$17,000
- Foreign students next year: $20,000 and up
- Exceptions remain for international agreements (France, Belgium, etc.).
- The measure does not apply to the 2nd cycle (research) and the 3rd cycle
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