By William Crooks
Local Journalism Initiative
Bishop’s University (BU) Principal and Vice-Chancellor Sébastien Lebel-Grenier characterizes the Quebec government’s proposed 2024 tuition hike at English-language universities for out-of-province students as “catastrophic”. Starting in 2024, new out-of-province students will have to pay around $17,000 per year in place of the $9,000 current students pay now. Furthermore, a new minimum will be set for international students, much of which will be “confiscated” and used to support programs to strengthen French in the province.
The provincial government is putting forward two measures, Lebel-Grenier confirmed, both of which “are going to have a hit on [BU]”.
The first is the most detrimental – a proposal to double the tuition fees for out-of-province Canadian students. Presently, these students are paying roughly $9,000 per year, which is comparable to the average tuition they would have to pay elsewhere in Canada according to the latest figures from Statistics Canada.
The new fees will increase starting next September and affect all three English-language universities in Quebec. Out-of-province students will be priced out, Lebel-Grenier insisted; the fee increase will be “prohibitive”. He expects BU will lose much of that category of student, which makes up around 30 per cent of the BU student body. “Do the math,” he said, “it’s catastrophic for us.”
The second measure applies to international students. The government will be imposing a new minimum on tuition fees for them: $20,000 per year. This will not directly impact BU’s capacity to attract these students, he continued, because BU and other English-language universities are already charging more than that. BU’s international fees amount to around $25,000 a year, and McGill can charge quite a bit more depending on the program. However, he said, the government plans on additionally “clawing back” a portion of that money and distributing it amongst francophone universities and other institutions, which constitutes a “direct financial hit”. This will impede BU’s ability to provide its programs and services to all its students, he went on.
The exact overall impact these new regulations will have on BU is not completely worked through and they are running different scenarios based on limited information. It is not clear, for instance, exactly how many less students they will attract, but they project losing one quarter of their revenue, probably a lot more.
Lebel-Grenier has been speaking regularly with the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry. The Minister understands that BU will be the most severely impacted, he relayed, and the intention is not to endanger BU’s very existence. Conversations are ongoing. This is “cold comfort” for BU, Lebel-Grenier admitted, since the consequences of this new legislation will be “fundamental”.
It will also have an impact on BU’s identity as an institution, he added; BU is celebrating its 180th anniversary this year and is a historic pillar of Quebec society. “It is an essential institution for [Quebec’s] diverse anglophone communities.” BU has been welcoming students from throughout Canada for its entire existence. If out-of-province students cease attending BU it will affect the very nature of the community BU has built over the years. BU thrives on a “diverse student body”, which is core to the educational experience it offers.
Lebel-Grenier hopes the government will come to understand the extent of the damage this will cause. He emphasized that BU recognizes Quebec is a predominately francophone province and there exist legitimate concerns surrounding the preservation of its French language. BU sees itself as a partner in this effort with the province to give its non-francophone students the opportunity to learn French and more about the Quebec community.
He thinks many out-of-province students attend BU because they are curious about Quebec and the French language. Many choose to stay in Quebec and are important and productive members of its society. BU helps welcome people to Quebec and make it a place where “talent wants to stay”.
The government claims there is a $110 million gap between what they receive from out-of-province students and what it costs to educate them. “I’d like to see what data the government is basing [that number] on,” Lebel-Grenier responded. He has asked the Minister for that data and did not receive a reply. These students spend “orders of magnitude” more than the ultimate funding the government provides to universities for their education. BU is currently working out its own exact specific numbers, but the conclusion will be the same.
Out-of-province students are already paying three times as much as Quebecers, which he thinks is fair. They are not taking advantage of Quebec, he insisted, but bringing a lot to Quebec society.
Lebel-Grenier does not agree with the government’s view on the French language being in danger on the island of Montreal. They are basing their worries on data about French being spoken in the household, he noted, but, in an increasingly diverse community, it is obvious that less French will be spoken at home. He thinks mandatory study in French for students (besides the historically English), a law already in place, is appropriate and enough. Young people on the island of Montreal are all bilingual, he said. What should be focused on is French as the common language of the province.
Making their flagship institutions weaker, he continued, is not the way ahead. McGill, for instance, “contributes immensely” to Quebec society as a spearhead of research and innovation. As he understands it, McGill is going to announce a $50 million program to bring French to their non-French speaking students, which is “an amazing initiative… the way we should be going.”
Lebel-Grenier understands Townshippers’ concern about what these new developments will mean for BU. He promises he is working hard to get adaptations to the new rules that will account for BU’s special circumstances and is hopeful they will find a way out of this difficult situation.
He emphasized that it is very important that the local community, anglophone and francophone, band together and support BU by talking about the role BU plays for them. “We’re stronger together.”
Annabelle McIntosh is an out-of-province, fifth-year education student at BU. She is disappointed to see such a “very, very large” tuition hike. Losing so many non-Quebecer students would be devastating, she said, because they make up almost half the student body and add a lot of different perspectives. “More diversity in the community is wonderful… it is so special.” She would “definitely” not have come to BU if the tuition were double what it is now and is not sure if it would have been even feasible using provincial loans.
Sophia Stacey is the President of BU’s Student Representative Council (SRC). The SRC unequivocally opposes the massive increase to tuition for out-of-province students, which, she said, will make education for them here largely unaffordable. Many of these students are French speaking, she noted. Affordability is already an issue for many prospective students, and this constitutes a further financial barrier and introduces even more “social inequity” than there already is.