Nipissing University, Northern College present balanced budgets as international student enrolment drops

Two more post-secondary schools in northeastern Ontario are proposing balanced budgets for the coming year, but each is dealing with continuing financial pressures in different ways.

Across the sector, post-secondary institutions have been facing drops in revenue due to caps on international study permits and an ongoing freeze on tuition for Canadian students.

While Nipissing University in North Bay has taken steps to climb out of past deficits, it will have the help of a one-time government funding to break even for the 2025-26 academic year.

Renée Hacquard, vice-president finance and administration, said because the university has little in financial reserves, it qualified for a one-time provincial grant of just under $1.7 million, but it's a temporary fix.

"The multi-year outlook is still not looking very rosy, per se," she said. 

For the next school year, Nipissing is projecting a razor-thin $272 surplus.

The university has struggled in the past, and in 2022, the province's auditor general reported Nipissing was $34.7 million in debt, mainly due to the construction of a new residence and research innovation centre, however, the university has been steadily working on 14 recommendations to recover stability.

Hacquard says for the coming year, strategies to create revenue include lobbying for more seats in nursing and education, which would mean an increase in grants.

She noted the school will benefit from a boost to science, technology, engineering and mechanics (STEM) funding set aside in the last provincial budget.

Even meal plans, event hosting, merchandise sales and fundraising could be sources of revenue, she said.

"Those are all minor improvements with the biggest one being rebuilding our international student recruitment," said Hacquard.'

International enrolment at Nipissing University is predicted to drop from 315 to 166 next year.

Hacquard said they hope to bring those numbers back up, barring any further steps from the federal government to limit international study permits.

"Everything we can do is risky," said Jacquard. "However, it's a calculated risk for Nipissing. We've had such a small percentage in international recruitment and our plans continue to be, to not necessarily expand as high as other universities, but to have a careful balance and also continue to grow our domestic enrolment." 

The recent caps on international student recruitment have hit Northern College far harder than at Nipissing.

Northern, which has its main campus in Timmins, is projecting an $875,000 surplus for 2025-26, down from $8 million the previous year.

It has had to wrap up its public-private partnership with the Pures College of Technology due to the federal government's restrictions on international study and work permits.

The collaboration, with campuses in southern Ontario, catered to a large proportion of international students who pay a much higher tuition than domestic students.

Overall tuition revenue at Northern is dropping by almost $10 million, according to a document provided by the college.

It also shows total revenues shrinking almost by half, from $118.8 million to $ 59.6 million

"Approval ratings for international student applications have dropped significantly from 2024, from approximately 90 per cent to roughly 50 per cent in 2025," said spokesperson Kyle Gennings.

He added that Northern College won't be taking new students in 10 programs next year while it assesses whether they'll attract enough students to cover operating costs.

Those programs include computer programming, cybersecurity, health care management and the practical nursing programs offered at the satellite campuses in Kirkland Lake and Haileybury.

Gennings said there have been staff reductions, although the president of the full-time faculty union, Neal McNair, said no full-time professors have been laid off.

Instead, McNair said between 10 and 12 full-time positions have not been filled after those teachers took retirement incentive packages.

McNair said it's been a difficult and anxious year for employees, with more of the same on the horizon.

He thinks the answer lies with more sustainable funding from the provincial government.

"Ontario is by far the lowest funded per student in all of Canada," he said. "We are at about 50 per cent of the average funding across the other provinces in the country. So it really is incumbent on the provincial government to step up to see the value of the college system and to fund it properly."

McNair said he'd be happy to see the situation return to what it was ten years ago before government belt-tightening spurred colleges to rely on the higher tuition of international students.