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By James Peters / Aaron Schulze

International Students

TRU budget dealt a major hit by federal international student rules: president

Oct 29, 2024 | 5:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — The president of Thompson Rivers University says the institution is making some significant changes as it grapples with new federal rules affecting international student enrolment.

Earlier this year, the federal government announced caps on international student permits and introduced new rules around post-graduate work in Canada.

Speaking to CFJC Today, President and Vice-Chancellor Brett Fairbairn said it’s likely the fall semester will be the last for a few years that TRU will hit its international student enrolment goal of at least 4,000.

“Given the rules that the federal government has introduced, in many of our programs, those numbers are not going to rebound. It’s not just a temporary thing,” said Fairbairn. “Some of the kinds of programs we’ve had before just don’t meet the rules for federal post-graduate work permits and study permits.”

That decrease in the international student population will deal a major blow to the school’s budget. At present, tuition from international students provides about 26 per cent of TRU’s revenue.

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The school’s finance committee says it is in a surplus position for the first quarter of 2024-25, but is projecting deficits starting in 2025-26.

“It will take us some time but we will devise new programs to attract students and meet those targets we’ve set,” said Fairbairn. “But in the meantime, while it takes time to develop new programs and recruit students to them, we’re going to have to make some adjustments in our budget.”

Those short-term measures include hiring restrictions that will see TRU fill positions only in targeted areas. The school will also pause a portion of its capital expenditures in order to build up reserves.

On the recruitment side, the school is proposing a more stable and transparent tuition model for international students. In his report to the school’s senate this week, Fairbairn said “tuition fees would remain fixed for the duration of a student’s program, plus one additional year, offering greater transparency and cost certainty.”

TRU would become the first university in B.C. to guarantee no tuition fee increases during a student’s studies. The plan will go to the TRU Board of Governors for approval at its next meeting in December.

“We’re still doing some modelling and we’ll also still be able to do some targeted recruitment to try to keep the numbers up as much as possible,” said Fairbairn, who notes TRU will not be the only post-secondary institution in Canada hit hard by the changes imposed by Ottawa.

“There has been a chilling effect on students applying to Canada and also, it’s about the post-graduate work permits that many students counted on as part of what they were coming to Canada for,” he said. “All of the changes together have [dealt TRU] a hit; it’s not just the quota on numbers.”