With the steady increase of international student enrolment as shown from this year’s enrolment numbers, Carleton University should work towards capping international student tuition increases and increasing the scholarships provided to them.
A Statistics Canada report released in September this year revealed that tuition fees for full-time international undergraduate students rose by 6.3 per cent in the 2018-19 academic year to $27,159 on average. The average tuition fees for international graduate students rose by one per cent to $16,497.
International undergraduate students pay almost four times the average tuition costs of local Canadian students, while international graduate student fees are twice what local Canadian students pay. Many international students and their families have sacrificed a lot to allow them to study abroad—whether it’s because the education systems in their home countries are hampered by political corruption, or to give them the opportunity to start a life in Canada.
Generally, international students go into their degrees prepared to make the investment in higher tuition costs for the education they want—but there are no rules or regulations that set limits on the constant tuition fee rises for their degrees.
International students are not here to be exploited. They should be welcomed at Carleton for the diversity of opinions, cultures and intellect they bring to campus—and welcomed in the form of increased scholarships, bursaries, and a cap on the annual fee hikes to make life in Canada more financially viable for them.
