UWindsor guarantees multi-year tuition rate for international students

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Steep tuition hikes for post-secondary international students in Canada have taken on all the assuredness of death and taxes.

In an effort to combat the annual sticker shock that confronts the nearly 3,600 international students enrolled at the University of Windsor, the university has introduced a tuition guarantee.

The new program places an international student in a cohort year based on their first term at UWindsor. Each cohort is guaranteed an unchanged tuition rate for the typical length of time required for the degree being pursued. Tuition is not guaranteed if an international student takes longer that the typical time required.

The university is also freezing tuition rates for a proportionate time for international students who began their studies prior to the summer of 2021.

“This gives them some stability and predictability,” said Chris Busch, the university’s associate vice-president of enrolment management. “What we heard really loud and clear was that there was no stability to help them plan.”

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Busch noted that, due to all the legwork needed to secure the proper clearances, international students apply and gain admission to a program but often don’t actually start their studies until 12 to 18 months down the road.

“So, tuition may go through one or two changes that affect the rate before they even get on campus,” Busch said.

And as they progress through a three- or four-year program, international students deal with significant tuition hikes each year while tuition increases for domestic students are capped at no more than three per cent.

“I’ve heard from international students who started in first year and by the time they’re in their final year, they’re already paying double the tuition they were paying first year,” said Jasleen Dayal, president of the University of Windsor Students’ Alliance.

Unlike domestic students, universities do not receive any government funding for international students which leaves the latter paying two and three times the tuition of a domestic student.

Using UWindsor’s tuition calculator on the school website, it shows a domestic student paying $6,044 tuition and fees per semester as a full-time undergrad in engineering for the 2021-22 year. A full-time international student in the same program pays $20,492 per semester.

In 2019, the provincial government imposed a 10-per-cent tuition reduction for domestic students, prompting most universities, including Windsor, to increase international rates.

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The university’s board of governors approved international tuition hikes of between five and nine per cent for 2020.

In 2017, the board approved an international tuition increase between six and eight per cent and the year before that, the increase ranged from 3.5 to eight per cent.

“It has definitely been very challenging,” said Sumeet Kaur, a fifth-year international student in science. “Whenever an international student plans to study abroad, they estimate all the expenses first, including tuition and rent. No one really expects an increase in tuition in the middle of their degree.”

With tuition at $15,150 per semester, Kaur gets financial help from her family but that was a tough ask in the middle of a pandemic.

“Most of the countries were getting affected because of the pandemic and lockdowns. Families were going through a lot of financial loss and my family was no different. It was really hard for them to pay my extra fees,” she wrote in an email from her home in India.

Kaur said the tuition guarantee will help “incoming international students as they’ll get a sense of certainty and they can plan their expenses better, especially during the pandemic.”

Tuition fee increases for international students have been raised as an issue at many universities across the province, including Western, Guelph and the University of Toronto. It’s also been an issue for students in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Offering a tuition guarantee is something Busch hopes makes UWindsor a more attractive option for international students.

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“Very few institutions in Canada are doing this,” Busch said. “I could probably count them on one hand.”

Tuition insecurity is not the only hurdle faced by international students, according to Dayal.

“International students face multiple insecurities beyond tuition,” Dayal said. “There’s housing insecurities, there’s food insecurities. Our international students should not have to choose between paying tuition and buying groceries.”

Dayal said international students in their final year of study feel trapped by unaffordable tuition.

“They’re so far in they either have to finish and face a mountain of debt or they have to drop out,” Dayal said. “This tuition guarantee is definitely a step in the right direction but I do think the university can do more for international students in many different areas.”

Dayal would like to see more supports for helping international students understand the culture and society around them in Windsor and offer more resources around finding jobs when they graduate.

“There’s many more services the university can put in place so an international student can be successful when they’re at the university and also when they graduate,” Dayal said.

mcaton@postmedia.com

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