English universities submit enhanced proposal on tuition fees

Dear Concordians,

On Saturday, Concordia, McGill and Bishop’s presented an enhanced proposal to the Government of Quebec in response to the planned tuition increases for out-of-province and international students. The universities decided to revise our previous counteroffer we presented on November 6. We have not received an official response from the government to that proposal and felt it was important to further reinforce our position in light of the most recent data from the enrolment cycle, which already shows an 18 per cent decline in applications to Concordia from rest-of-Canada students and a 32 per cent decline in international applications. We believe the latest proposal is a fair and well-considered compromise that strikes the correct balance between protecting the French language in Quebec while preserving the competitiveness of its universities nationally and internationally.

Briefly, our new proposal calls for several modifications to the government’s plan, including a delay in implementing any measures until fall 2025, the striking of a working group to set clear parameters for applying any new fees, and a differentiated tuition system with three tiers that links the amount out-of-province undergraduate students will pay to the actual average costs for their academic program across Canada. To illustrate how the final element would work, a student in lower-cost programs, such arts, science or education — who represent the vast majority of Concordia applicants — would continue to pay $9,000 per year; a student in middle-cost programs like engineering would pay $14,000 per year; and a student in professional programs like law and medicine would pay $20,000 per year. In contrast to what the government had originally proposed, which was a universal fee of $17,000 for rest-of-Canada undergraduate students in all programs, we feel this approach will allow our universities to continue to be competitive in attracting outstanding Canadian students.

Regarding changes to the funding model for international students, we called on the government to indefinitely delay implementation until it has consulted the full university network. We recognize that the current system, created by previous governments, has caused an imbalance that needs to be addressed. However, we cannot support an approach that results in the reduction of any university’s budget. Redistributing funds among the network ultimately does nothing to rectify the chronic underfunding of Quebec’s higher education sector.

Finally, the three English universities strongly reiterated our commitment to implementing our historic proposal to protect and promote the French language among our students. Supported by government, we are ready to do the hard work of developing immersive language, cultural and training programs for students who do not speak French when they arrive in Quebec. Our ambitious goal remains to ensure 40 per cent of non-francophone students achieve an intermediate level of French by the time they graduate.

Although the process of implementing these new language training programs will be challenging, we believe they will offer exciting, life-changing opportunities to our students that will give them additional global skills and help them integrate fully into Quebec society faster than ever before. Rewarding students for their desire to learn or perfect their French — often a key reason why they choose to study in Quebec — will only deepen their roots here. We want to see as many of them as possible stay to further enrich our diverse society and contribute to our economic prosperity with their talents. We believe this has been and always will be the winning formula for Quebec — a sentiment echoed by our supporters from French universities, student groups, the business community and local governments. 

It has now been more than two months since the government made its original announcement and five weeks since Concordia, McGill and Bishop’s presented our first proposal to the Government of Quebec. We hope their delay in finalizing the proposed fee structures indicates that they have heard and are now fully considering our concerns about the far-reaching negative effects an abrupt increase in tuition fees will have. Our updated proposal shows we remain flexible in our own approach and open to discussing measures that would help ensure the financial health of all Quebec universities.

At Concordia, we’re proud of the role our university plays in shaping the diverse, innovative Quebec we know today, and we’re determined to keep building on this success, in partnership with the government, for years to come. As a next-gen university, we stand ready to apply all our creativity, ingenuity and knowledge toward helping Quebec retain its standing as one of the world’s great destinations for higher education.

Graham Carr
President and Vice-Chancellor