Tuition Fees for French Students in Quebec: A Shifting Landscape

Québec is once again tightening French language laws across different sectors. The province’s education department has announced a plan to raise tuition fees and mandate French-proficiency for out-of-province students. Official education representatives have defended the plan, claiming that the move is to protect the French language.

Recent Changes in Tuition Policies

In autumn , new undergraduate students in any Quebec university whose families reside outside Quebec will have to pay about $17,000 tuition, an increase from $9,000. The change doesn’t apply only to Concordia, McGill and Bishop’s, but to every university in Quebec. It doesn’t apply to students who are already enrolled this year; my family has a young friend of the family from Ottawa who’s studying at McGill, and he’ll finish his degree at the same lower fee scale. And it doesn’t apply to graduate students in research-oriented disciplines like biology and chemistry. But most students from outside Quebec who are studying in Quebec universities are studying at McGill, Concordia and Bishop’s. The new policy will either discourage them from studying in Quebec, or it will send their money to universities where they didn’t choose to study. Since it announced the policy last Friday, premier François Legault’s government has said both: that the tuition change will discourage out-of-province students, while making more of their money available to mostly-francophone institutions where, again, they didn’t choose to study.

Increase for Out-of-Province Students

One significant shift involves an increase in tuition fees for students from outside Quebec. Specifically, new undergraduate students from other Canadian provinces will face a substantial rise in tuition, from approximately $9,000 to about $17,000 per year. This change, set to take effect in the autumn, impacts all universities within Quebec, including prominent institutions like Concordia, McGill, and Bishop's.

The increased tuition applies to new undergraduate students and those enrolled in non-thesis master’s degrees. Quebec students pay about $3,000.

French Proficiency Requirements

In addition to a fee increase from C$9,000 to C$12,000 per year, Québec will require that 80% of students from outside the province reach an intermediate level of French by the time they graduate. If the target is not met, universities would face financial penalties.

Québec's education department announced that, starting in fall , 80 per cent of newly enrolled non-Quebec undergraduate students in English universities must attain an intermediate-level oral proficiency in French by graduation.

McGill and Concordia would face financial penalties if they did not meet the target.

Redistribution of International Student Fees

Other changes to education finances will see a larger portion of international student fees going directly to the provincial government, instead of their course operating budget. This component of the new policy would also redistribute more money from international students’ higher tuition payments throughout the province’s university network. In effect, universities that can’t attract international students would get a bonus payment from universities that can.

Impact on Universities

Both universities said that applications have already dropped by 20%, and that the changes could cost them C$150m annually. Concordia University in Montreal.

Concordia’s Graham Carr is left to box with these rhetorical ghosts. “The minister and other spokesmen and advocates for this policy have been saying for some time now that students coming from the rest of Canada to Quebec get a great deal because they pay less than they would be paying at home,” Carr said. “And then they study here, and then they leave.

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“What's being proposed, though, is to double that tuition, to somewhere in the neighborhood of 17 or $18,000, to increase the amount of money which would be redistributed in the francophone network. But the reality is that there will be less money to redistribute, because there’ll be fewer students coming! The price point becomes excessive. You're way off-line with the national market. And great as Concordia is, or great as McGill or Bishop’s is, there are other good options in Canada, that would be more economical at that point.”“So I think the second assumption that the government has gotten wrong here is that somehow this will generate additional income that can be shared with the francophone universities. And our assessment is that it's actually going to generate less than what they're currently getting.”

Alex Usher's best guess is that the international-student change alone will cost Concordia somewhere north of $100 million, perhaps 12% of the university’s total income. This would be a devastating gut punch.

Concerns about Revenue and Enrollment

University administrators have voiced concerns about the potential consequences of these policy changes. Graham Carr, the president of Concordia University, highlighted the budgetary and cultural-identity aspects of the situation. He noted that the increased tuition fees could discourage out-of-province students from studying in Quebec, leading to a decrease in enrollment and, consequently, less money available for redistribution within the francophone university network.

Carr argues that the claim that out-of-province students get a great deal by paying less than they would at home is inaccurate. He points out that the fees they pay to come to Quebec are often higher than the national average and what they would normally pay in their home province, especially in fields like sciences, social sciences, and fine arts.

Potential Financial Losses

The redistribution of international student fees also raises concerns about potential financial losses for universities with large international student populations, such as McGill, Concordia, and Bishop's. Some estimate that this change alone could cost Concordia over $100 million, representing a significant portion of the university's total income.

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Rationale Behind the Changes

The Quebec government defends these changes as necessary to protect the French language and ensure its survival in the province. Premier François Legault has stated that the goal is to discourage anglophone students from other provinces.

Protecting the French Language

The government argues that the influx of English-speaking students from other provinces has an "anglicizing effect" on Montreal and threatens the survival of French. By increasing tuition fees for out-of-province students and requiring French proficiency, the government aims to reduce the number of anglophone students and promote the use of French in the province.

Addressing Subsidization Concerns

Legault has also expressed concerns about taxpayers subsidizing the education of students from outside Quebec who do not intend to stay in the province after graduation. He argues that the tuition changes will ensure that these students contribute more to the Quebec economy.

Criticism and Incoherence

Critics argue that the government's policies are incoherent and contradictory. They point out that the government claims the tuition change will discourage out-of-province students while also expecting them to keep coming and contribute financially.

Conflicting Objectives

The government's objectives appear to be conflicting: discouraging anglophone students while also taking their money. This has led to accusations of incoherence and a lack of a clear strategy.

Lack of Justification

Critics also argue that the government has not provided sufficient evidence to justify the tuition changes or demonstrate that they will have the desired effect. They question the government's assumptions about the impact of out-of-province students on the French language and the potential for increased revenue generation.

Broader Context

The tuition fee changes are part of a broader effort by the Quebec government to protect and promote the French language in the province. This includes stricter language rules in various sectors and increased funding for francophone institutions.

Quebec-France Agreement

Quebec has a long-standing agreement with France that provides discounted tuition to French citizens studying in Quebec. This agreement, signed in 1978 and renewed by successive governments, allows eligible students to pay far less than other international students in Quebec.

Subsidizing English-Speaking Students with French Citizenship

A significant portion of the subsidized French students choose to study at English-language universities in Quebec. In , 468 students with French citizenship who paid discounted tuition in Quebec had English as their mother tongue. Critics argue that Quebec is effectively paying to teach English to students from France.

Financial Implications

Quebec spent $147 million in to subsidize all the students with French citizenship, up from $111 million five years ago. Over the past five years, the combined total amounts to $635 million.

Judge Rules Quebec's Tuition Hike 'Unreasonable'

Concordia and McGill universities have partially won their legal challenge to Quebec’s decision to sharply increase tuition for out‑of‑province students and impose new French‑language proficiency requirements on non‑Quebec applicants.

Quebec Superior Court judge also invalidated, effective immediately, the French proficiency rules that the CAQ government had imposed.

Dufour criticized the arguments advanced by Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry, echoing the universities’ contention that the plan was put forward without sufficient evidence.

“We observe an absence of data on which the minister claims to base her decision,” Dufour wrote. “At the very least, what she had on hand in no way substantiates the reasonableness of the outcome.”

The judge added: “With respect to the retention rate of students from outside Quebec and their ability to integrate into Quebec society - whether international or out-of-province students - the evidence shows that the minister had no data on the matter, beyond tenuous information.”

Dufour also noted that Quebec moved ahead with the changes before the government had received a report from an advisory committee that Déry was required to consult before universities are given new directives concerning tuition.

The judge also invalidated, effective immediately, Quebec’s pending French proficiency rules.

In his judgment, Dufour wrote: “The 80 per cent target … proves to be equally unreasonable given its near-certain impossibility of being met. Moreover, the consequences of failing to comply with this rule - which can include the complete withdrawal of subsidies, even retroactively - remain unclear.”

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