Concordia University cutting costs due to decline in enrolment
Concordia University says enrolment issues are forcing significant cuts, especially in the face of incoming tuition hikes for out-of-province students.
In a memo sent to staff and faculty last week, Concordia officials said that after 10 years of growth, enrolment had declined in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
"Due to this drop in revenue, Concordia cannot meet its core operating costs, which consist mostly of salaries and the day-to-day operations that support teaching, research and student life. Inflation, which affects the cost of goods and services, as well as rising interest rates, employee benefits and salary costs, have also had a significant impact on the university's expenses," reads the letter, which Concordia shared with CTV News on Monday.
The university says it's aiming to cut its overall spending by 7.8 per cent. Measures include freezing the salaries of Concordia executives, continuing the hiring freeze for non-academic staff, and dipping into reserve funds, among others.
While the memo does not mention Quebec's plan to dramatically increase tuition costs for out-of-province and international students, the Concordia administration has previously said the hikes will drive new students away.
In fact, according to some, it already has.
"A couple of my friends wanted to come up here this year and now they've changed their minds because it's too much money compared to going to Ontario now," Concordia marketing student Dyland Buyers told CTV News.
The Coalition Avenir Québec government says the hikes are designed to protect the French language, arguing that too many non-French speaking students flood into Montreal only to leave after graduation.
But critics like engineering student Fatima Faisal say there are better ways to protect French that don't restrict academic opportunities: "Free French courses in universities and stuff like that would be better than a tuition hike."
- Amid tuition hikes, former students share why choosing Montreal was the best decision of their lives
Marwah Rizqy, the Quebec Liberal Party critic for higher education, accused the Legault government of trying to court French-speaking voters after a painful loss in October's by-election.
"But they're doing so by hurting institutions such as Concordia, McGill and Bishop's," she said.
Post-doctorate researcher Nadia Hausgather, who studies student movements, says the hike will only drive away lower-income people.
"The only people we invite as possible future students from outside Quebec will be the elite who can afford those fees," she said.
More than 33,000 students have signed a National Assembly petition to stop the hikes.
On Thursday, demonstrators are expected to gather at Concordia's downtown campus for another protest, demanding the province change course.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.