BC Federation of Students calls for systemic changes

The BC Federation of Students (BCFS) wants the province to increase funding to make up for the decrease in revenue due to new federal caps on international students.

BCFS secretary-treasurer Cole Reinbold says the system became reliant on international students, who pay on average five times more than domestic students, back in 2011.

“It was the Christy Clark government that said, let’s have all these new international students to fund our system,” Reinbold said.

“But it is the current government that is living life at the status quo and not changing B.C. for the better, and this is ruining communities. People are losing their jobs.”

Reinbold says the BCFS is calling on the province to invest $500 million into post-secondary institutions.

“We are making a direct call to the government to infuse that funding into the system right now,” she said.

“We are not on the brink of collapse. The system is actively collapsing as we speak.”

Reinbold says without funding, we can expect more staff layoffs, service cuts, and a decline in the quality of education for both international and domestic students.

“Camosun is losing 400 international students,” she said. “That equates to $8 million lost in their budget, so institutions are having to do what they need to do to keep their doors open.”

The Blanche Macdonald Centre, a private makeup artistry and esthetics college in Vancouver, says it is temporarily offering international students domestic tuition rates.

“With the hardships imposed on international students with the changing government regulations, the college would like to extend a helping hand,” the school said.

“We hope to ease their financial burden and for them to know that Canada is a welcoming place.”

The Leader Spirit reached out to the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills for comment.

Reinbold says this is the biggest crisis that B.C. post-secondary education has ever seen.

“The only reason why our institutions are afloat right now is because international students are subsidizing the entire system,” she said.

“The situation has never been more dire.”