Huge boost in foreign students comes at high cost
Hyungee Bae of South Korea has given up everything to take a gamble she hopes will land her citizenship — that’s why she’s studying at Toronto’s Centennial College.
She is among the largest cohort of international students ever in Canada and, like many, she is betting on a Canadian education being the ticket to permanent residency.
“I’m putting everything into this,” says Bae, 28, who’s in the aviation technician—aircraft maintenance program and is getting by without financial help from anyone. “My parents say, ‘I don’t know if you’re brave or a fool.’ ”
A joint investigation by the Toronto Star and the St. Catharines Standard looks at the explosive growth in international students at Ontario colleges, which are grappling with a decline in domestic numbers.
The influx is helping to fill college coffers, update campuses and expand programs. It’s reviving rural communities in the midst of a population decline. And it’s proving a boon for employers desperate to meet labour market demands.
But there have also been growing pains. Teachers are stressed and overwhelmed because many students have poor English skills. And students are inadequately supported and under tremendous pressure to succeed, having made big sacrifices to get here. They juggle the demands of school with parttime jobs, while their temporary immigration status makes them vulnerable to exploitation.
Students say they bought into a dream that can sometimes feel like a nightmare and that hefty tuition fees — up to four times higher than what a domestic student pays — make them cash cows helping to prop up Ontario’s education system. Still, they are determined to make a go of it. In today’s Insight section, Part 1 of Price of Admission explores how international students are transforming campuses