McGill University says it might have to cut up to 700 jobs due to Quebec tuition hikes

Quebec's plan to double tuition for out-of-province students could result in up to 700 job cuts at McGill University, the school's principal said Thursday.

The hikes will bring a significant drop in enrolment and revenue, Principal and Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini wrote in a Thursday open letter.

The CAQ plans to raise tuition fees from $8,992 to around $17,000 per year for Canadians coming to Quebec to study next fall.

The government says it's doing it to protect the French language. English universities McGill, Concordia, and Bishop's have all expressed anxiety about how it will affect their bottom line.

Students have also spoken out against the hike, with some out-of-province Canadians second-guessing their plans to study in Quebec.

At McGill, staff expect enrolment to drop, requiring a significant financial restructuring.

UP TO $94 MILLION IN LOSSES

"Many Canadian students from outside Quebec will likely not come to McGill because their tuition in 2024 for comparable programs will be much higher than in universities elsewhere in Canada," wrote Saini.

He says the university is trying to recruit more international students to fill in the gaps left by second-guessing Canadians. At best, he wrote, staff will only be able to fill 80 per cent of those vacant spaces.

"And in the worst-case scenario, we will fill no more than 20 per cent," he added.

Fewer students means less tuition revenue, and Saini expects the hikes to result in losses up to $94 million.

To make up for those lost revenues, Saini says the university would consider hundreds of "job reductions."

"It will be necessary to implement some measures including a hiring freeze, job reductions that could reach between 650 and 700," he wrote.

CTV News reached out to McGill to clarify if that meant the university was looking at layoffs.

"There is no plan to lay hundreds of people off at McGill," read a response from the school.

A spokesperson added that that line referred to "a range of scenarios of what could happen at McGill." 

The McGill memo comes just a day after Concordia University released its own projections.

In an internal message to the university community on Tuesday, Concordia president Graham Carr said the hikes could lead to a 90 per cent drop in out-of-province enrollment.

As a result, Carr said the university is looking at an $8 million revenue loss when the hike takes effect for new students in the 2024-2025 academic year. After four years, the annual revenue loss could reach $32 million, he said.