Tuition hike at McGill and Concordia 'directly attacks Montreal,' Plante says

The mayor’s comments come as the two universities grapple with a steep drop in applications from the rest of Canada.

Published Feb 07, 2024 • Last updated 34 minutes ago • 4 minute read

“We certainly see it as a measure that directly attacks Montreal, and that is not fair,” Valérie Plante told reporters, in her strongest criticism yet. “If Bishop’s no longer has this rule, why does Montreal have it?” Photo by Mario Beauregard /The Canadian Press Images

The Legault government’s decision to target Concordia and McGill universities with a 33 per cent tuition hike for out-of-province students is a direct attack on Montreal, Mayor Valérie Plante said Wednesday.

She urged the province to listen to one of its own advisory committees, which has come out against the measure.

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Plante’s comments came as the two universities are grappling with a major drop in applications due to the tuition hike.

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“We certainly see it as a measure that directly attacks Montreal, and that is not fair,” she told reporters, in her strongest criticism yet. “If Bishop’s no longer has this rule, why does Montreal have it?”

Quebec has given Sherbrooke-based Bishop’s — the smallest of the province’s three English universities — a partial exemption, allowing up to 825 students to pay the old rate.

The tuition increase, which only affects McGill and Concordia, is part of a Coalition Avenir Québec government effort to increase funding for French universities and reduce the number of non-French-speakers in Montreal post-secondary institutions.

Premier François Legault has said Bishop’s was largely excluded because French is not in peril in Sherbrooke.

Plante said she agrees that “supporting French post-secondary establishments” is important, “but do we have to penalize English-speaking universities for that? My answer is: No thanks.”

Plante said Montreal’s international reputation — and its local economy — are at stake. McGill and Concordia “contribute directly to the economic vitality of our downtown core,” she said. Most of the universities’ operations are downtown.

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McGill, Concordia scramble to attract out-of-province students amid tuition fallout

Rescind out-of-province tuition hike, advisory committee tells Quebec

Plante’s comments came days after the Gazette revealed that a government-appointed advisory committee has recommended that Quebec scrap the plan.

The Comité consultatif sur l’accessibilité financière aux études questioned how the government came up with the new $12,000-per-year rate for out-of-province students (up from $8,992). It said the hike “seems unjustified and risks compromising access to quality education and depriving society of potential talent.”

Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry’s office says it will ignore the advice because it was delivered four days after a deadline set by the minister. Déry contacted the committee on Dec. 15, asking for a response by Jan. 15. The report was filed on Jan. 19.

The committee, whose findings are not binding, is made up of several senior officials from French-language universities and CEGEPs.

The missed deadline came despite the fact that an official from Déry’s ministry — Catherine Grétas, a senior bureaucrat focused on financial assistance for students — sits on the committee as a non-voting member.

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Plante noted the committee was given its mandate just before the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

“I mean, it’s not easy to convene everybody during this period,” she said. “So I think the government of Quebec should open up and say maybe we can accept the report and answer the report.”

McGill and Concordia say the tuition hike, coupled with changes in the financing of international students, could cost them tens of millions of dollars in revenue per year.

The deadline to apply for McGill’s fall 2024 semester was Feb. 1.

Compared to previous years, there was a 22 per cent drop in applications from the rest of Canada, and a seven per cent decline among international students, Fabrice Labeau, the school’s deputy provost, said in an interview.

“I’m happy to say that despite the fact that we have a smaller pool, it’s a very high-quality pool of applicants,” he said.

It’s too early to tell whether enrolment will drop, he added. That will depend on how many people accept offers over the coming months, and how many decide to drop out during the summer.

“We’re still under quite a bit of uncertainty,” Labeau said.

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McGill has not raised tuition rates for international students. Labeau blamed the drop in applications among this group on confusion and uncertainty created by the CAQ government.

Many potential foreign students thought their rates were doubling, while others were put off by the message that the government sent: that non-French-speaking students “are not welcome in Quebec,” Labeau said.

“You can imagine that it had a chilling effect on a lot of the enthusiasm around applying to McGill,” he said.

While international students are not seeing tuition hikes, Quebec has decided to claw back $5,000 from every international student starting in the fall, Labeau said. He said the government has not made it clear how that money will be distributed.

At Concordia, where the application deadline is March 1, there has been a 27 per cent drop for students from the rest of Canada, and a 10 per cent drop for international students, said spokesperson Vannina Maestracci.

McGill and Concordia have set up scholarships that could cancel out the hike for some students from the rest of Canada.

In Quebec City, reporters asked Déry about the drop in applications at Concordia and McGill. She said she would wait to see the number of students who are accepted at the schools before commenting.

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