St. Clair College suspends enrollment for 18 programs

St. Clair College has suspended intake for 18 of its programs, citing financial pressures caused by international student visa caps.

The school is facing at least a 40 per cent reduction in its revenue from international student enrolment, which was a significant portion of its overall revenue, president Michael Silvaggi told CBC – though he would not clarify exactly how much it contributed to the school's overall budget. 

"In prior years when we've had international students contributing … it afforded us the ability to … perhaps run programs that don't have high domestic student demand," Silvaggi said.

"But … we needed to make some decisions, and unfortunately the tough decisions were made to pause intakes on these 18 programs."

The programs that are being suspended are:  

• Dental Assisting.
• Power Engineering Techniques.
• Power Engineering Technician.
• Chemical Laboratory Technician.
• Construction Project Management.
• Strategic Project Management.
• Paramedic - Chatham.
• Office Administration - Health.
• Electrical Engineering Technician.
• Public Relations.
• Hospitality - Hotel and Restaurant.
• Mechanical Technician - CAD/CAM.
• Electric Drive Vehicle Fundamentals.
• Electric Drive Vehicle Technician.
• Autism and Behavioural Science.
• Border Services - Chatham.
• Fashion Design Technician.
• Journalism.

College and university administrators right across Canada have warned that Ottawa's crackdown on international student visas threatens the viability of post-secondary institutions — who have relied on the tuition from international students to make up for revenue lost to other factors such as domestic tuition freezes.

But the pressure on affordable housing stock brought on by the burgeoning number of foreign students has caused the federal government to clamp down on the number of people who can study here, and in September, it announced it would slash the number of visas it issues by another 10 per cent. 

Two of the programs suspended by St. Clair – the project management programs – mainly catered to international students, Silvaggi said.

The vast majority of the suspended programs were on track to have fewer than 20 students enrolled.

The paramedic and border services programs will continue at the Windsor campus, and the school will work to increase intake there for the paramedic program, he said. 

"Please accept our apologies," Silvaggi said, when asked about his message to students who are impacted by the suspensions.

"But please give us another opportunity. If there is demand and so forth, and you're willing to wait … you know, perhaps this program will be available sooner rather than later." 

Programs in demand could be reinstated as early as next January, he said.

Officials wanted to announce the program suspensions early, Silvaggi added, to give students plenty of time to adjust their plans before the May 1 deadline to confirm their seats.

Silvaggi would not say whether or not there would be staffing cuts as a result of the program suspensions, saying the budgeting process is ongoing.

But the school, he said, does have an incentive on offer for staff who choose to leave voluntarily.

Silvaggi said Canada's reputation as an international education brand has taken a hit because of the sudden caps on student visas

"We do hope obviously that things are going to change once the rules have been established," he said.

St. Clair College has a portfolio of more than 125 programs in total, he added.