Drop in international student enrolment is costing UPEI and Holland College millions

Post-secondary schools in Prince Edward Island are losing millions in revenue this year after the federal government cracked down on the number of international students they can accept.

Holland College is reporting an 11 per cent reduction in first-year international student enrolment in 2024, resulting in a revenue loss of about $1 million.

For the University of Prince Edward Island, the loss is even more dramatic.

Its first-year international student enrolment dropped by about half compared to last year, resulting in a loss of about $3 million in revenue.

"The number that we have down — we can still easily take in double that number of students," said Wendy Rodgers, UPEI's president and vice-chancellor.

"We have room for them."

While the university has room for more students, new federal rules limit the permits available to accept them.

In January, the Liberal government announced plans to reduce the number of new student authorizations it issues for institutions across Canada by more than a third.

In September, it said it would further slash that number by an additional 10 per cent for 2025 before freezing the total for 2026. The new nationwide target is 437,000 students a year.

A recent report commissioned by Atlantic Canadian universities found that the reduced cap has cost the region an estimated $163 million.

In P.E.I., Holland College previously raised concerns that new federal rules would damage both its bottom line and the breadth and depth of its programming.

Those concerns are fast becoming a reality, according to the college's president and CEO, Sandy MacDonald.

"We had no input. We were just told, 'This is the way it's going to be,'" he said. "The policy is, I don't think, well thought through — and it's certainly been poorly implemented."

MacDonald said the federal government, in an effort to target "bad actors" functioning essentially as diploma mills, has instead taken a blanket approach to the issue.