On October 13th, the government of Quebec announced that they will be increasing tuition for incoming Canadian students who live outside of Quebec as of Fall 2024. The tuition increase will be from the current minimum of $8,992 to approximately $17,000, which would almost double tuition for out-of-province Canadian students.
Backlash from both out-of-province students and Anglophone universities in the province, namely McGill, Concordia, and Bishop’s, quickly followed this announcement. The tuition increase is likely to be a barrier to attending university in Quebec for some prospective out-of-province students. For other out-of-province students, the increased tuition may not prevent them from attending school in Quebec but may deter them in the interest of saving money. In response to this announcement, there will be a march on Monday, October 30 for students and other community members to express their opposition to the law. The march will be taking place at 1:00 p.m. from Dorchester Square to the Roddick Gates.
The prospect of fewer people applying to and attending their universities because of the tuition increase has caused McGill and other Anglophone universities to publicly criticize and oppose the new law. This law targets Anglophone institutions specifically, as most students who come to study in Quebec from out of province attend Anglophone universities. An email sent to the McGill community on October 25th from Principal and Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini shared that McGill has “grave concerns about the potential impacts these changes would have on McGill and our sister universities.” However, Provost and Vice-Principal Christopher Manfredi stated that McGill is “actively exploring various means to ensure that [they] remain accessible to and a university of choice for students regardless of their place of origin” in an email sent to the McGill community on October 18th
After the announcement of the new law, McGill postponed the launch of Rayonnement du français initiative, a fifty million-dollar program that would invest in promoting the French language within the university community. In his October 25th email, Principal and Vice-Chancellor Saini shared that “on October 6, the Government of Quebec alerted McGill that changes” which “could affect [McGill’s] financial situation” were upcoming, but McGill was not warned of “the extent of the impact.” However, he clarified that “The Rayonnement initiative is not cancelled.”
It should be noted that there are some exceptions to the tuition increase. Out-of-province students currently enrolled in universities in Quebec will be grandfathered in and will not have to pay the increased tuition prices if they complete their degree in five years. Additionally, tuition will not change for out-of-province graduate students. Further, international students will also see their tuition fees climb to a minimum rate of about $20,000. However, this does not apply to students who come to Quebec universities as part of international agreements, such as those with France and Belgium.
Premier François Legault has defended the law, claiming that it is necessary to protect Quebec taxpayers from subsidizing students from outside the province. Legault has also framed the issue as one of protecting the French language as he claims that students from out of province contribute to the decline of the French language. Additionally, the money from the increased tuition will go to the Quebec government and will be used in part to fund the Francophone universities in the province. Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante has taken a stance against the law, arguing that it will decrease the student population in Montreal, which will have consequences for the economy. Plante has suggested that a better course of action would be to lower the tuition at Francophone schools to support French-speaking students.
