International students pay more in tuition than their domestic peers. That’s a well-established fact of university life and one that is entirely justified. The University of Toronto receives funding from the provincial government. This is a subsidy of higher education borne by Ontario taxpayers. It makes no sense for Ontario taxpayers to subsidize international students.
Foreign students should pay proportionately more than domestic students to offset these subsidies.
Fees for international students, however, have grown at a much faster rate than those of domestic students. The ratio between domestic and international fees is in flux. This is largely because U of T — like many of its peers — sees international students as potential cash cows to make up for declining public funding.
This approach is short-sighted. In an increasingly competitive world, universities are measured against each other in part by how many international students they have. At the moment, U of T charges measurably less than comparative institutions in the United States and similar tuition to much of the English-speaking world. This is changing, and with tuition increasingly approaching American levels, many international students will hesitate before choosing U of T.
Academic scholarships will not offset rising tuition rates because when considering education in a different country, most students will look at general fees before choosing whether to apply. Sometimes scholarships are not a realistic option. U of T should ask international students to pay more, but it should limit increases to a rate comparable to increases in domestic fees.
While it may be fair for international students to be charged more, this sort of educational protectionism is bad for the development of students. The inherent benefits of travelling and the rewards available to students who leave home to explore a new culture and perspective are undeniable. Educational protectionism, however, incentivizes students to attend university closer to home.
In Canada, we already see some of the benefits of dismantling this system. Students from other provinces pay the same fees as students who apply from Ontario. This makes for a more diverse campus population. If residence was also subsidized, this effect would be seen even more clearly.
The governments of Ontario and of Canada could negotiate with other countries to extend domestic fee status to international students. If proportionately more students from one country travelled to another, those governments could simply exchange funding to compensate. The result would be a further increased globalization of higher education, benefitting both students and the universities they attend.
Rather than eliminate flat fees, the government of Ontario would be best advised to use the limited higher education budget to encourage international students to come to Ontario and Ontario students to see the world.
Jeffrey Schulman is a first-year student at Trinity College studying international relations.
