Quebec taxpayers spent $865 million over the past five years to provide a discounted university education to students from France.
For these students, tuition is “inexpensive compared to American or British establishments of the same level,” the newspaper reported.
Quebec’s Higher Education Ministry declined to respond to The Gazette’s questions about the program this week.
Students from France in Quebec undergraduate programs pay significantly less than other international students, and also less than students from other Canadian provinces. Those in master’s and PhD programs pay the same tuition as Quebecers, representing a substantial discount compared to other non-Quebecers.
French students who come to Quebec CEGEPs pay the same rate as local students.
The preferential treatment persists even as Quebec raises tuition for students from other Canadian provinces and limits CEGEP and university infrastructure spending. This is in addition to the chronic underfunding Quebec universities have long decried.
The number of French students in Quebec post-secondary institutions has more than doubled since 2009, increasing from 9,200 to 20,400 in 2020, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
While most students from France study in francophone institutions, some opt for anglophone ones. McGill, for example, had 2,000 French students in 2023-24, an eight per cent increase from five years earlier.
The sharp rise can at least partly be attributed to marked-down tuition.
This year, Quebec raised fees for undergraduate students from the rest of Canada by 33 per cent — from $9,000 to $12,000 annually.
Most other international students pay a minimum of $20,000 for undergraduate programs.
France is Quebec’s biggest source of international recruitment, with French nationals constituting about one-third of foreign students.
However, the Coalition Avenir Québec government has shown no inclination to limit French students.
At the time, Quebec Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry lauded the deal. It enables “ideas to circulate, minds to open and the historic bridges that unite us as French-speaking societies to continue to be maintained,” she said.
In place for decades, the agreement was renewed repeatedly by governments of all stripes.
One major change came in 2015 when the Liberals increased tuition for French undergraduate students. Until then, they paid the same as Quebecers. Critics at the time worried the hike would discourage students from France from choosing Quebec.
The arrangement is reciprocal: Quebec students studying in France also benefit from low-cost tuition.
However, the numbers are imbalanced. In 2019, only 1,600 Quebecers were studying in France, compared to 19,400 French students in Quebec. The population of Quebec is about one-seventh the size of France’s.
While Quebec is eager to attract French-speaking immigrants, students from France are not obliged to stay after graduating, and it’s unclear how many do.
Quebec also has a similar arrangement with Belgium, offering reduced tuition to that country’s French-speaking students.
Last year, amid sporadic strikes, Quebec student leaders criticized the government for not offering the same discount to French-speaking African countries. They raised concerns about potential xenophobia.
Quebec’s higher education system is currently grappling with a range of challenges:
Anglophone universities
The province’s recent tuition overhaul primarily targeted anglophone universities, aiming to direct more funds to francophone schools while reducing the number of non-French-speaking students.
In addition to the tuition hike for out-of-province students, changes in international student funding rules resulted in universities losing an estimated $5,000 per foreign student.
Anglophone institutions argue the reforms, combined with the CAQ’s unwelcoming attitude toward non-Quebec students, led to a drop in enrolment from the rest of Canada and other countries at Concordia and Bishop’s. McGill has yet to disclose 2024 enrolment numbers.
The federal government’s more recent decision to reduce the number of international students in Canada also had an impact.
The revenue loss from these shifts is forcing English universities to make significant budget cuts.
Supporters of France’s preferential treatment say the $173-million annual subsidy is minor compared to the $4 billion Quebec spends annually to fund universities.
Yet, $173 million is not an insignificant amount considering Déry’s previous actions.
Last year, she sent English universities into panic mode for less. At the time, she said her revamp would generate $110 million for French universities.
Whether that much will materialize remains to be seen. Concordia president Graham Carr says the actual amount will be lower, noting the CAQ’s stance has driven away many non-Quebec students.
Federal funding
Quebec’s decision to target out-of-province students sparked frustration in other parts of Canada.
“Quebec is a massive net recipient of Canada’s transfer system yet is the only province in Canada that requires out-of-province Canadians to pay more in tuition than citizens from within its provincial borders (although Nova Scotia also has some unique stipulations).”
George Monastiriakos, a part-time University of Ottawa law professor, says Canadian taxpayers should not subsidize students from France.
“I am not saying that we should not accept French students. On the contrary, we should do our best to attract and retain the brightest young minds from France and around the world,” he wrote. “That said, Quebec policy must not favour French students (over) Canadian families who have helped us fund our public services for decades.”
Infrastructure spending
Along with tuition changes, Quebec is scaling back infrastructure spending at CEGEPs and universities.
Chronic underfunding
The issue of insufficient funding for Quebec universities is long-standing.
“The truth is that all Quebec universities are underfunded if we compare them to institutions of the same stature in (the rest of) Canada,” Université de Montréal rector Daniel Jutras said last year.
In a 2021 study, economist Pierre Fortin found Quebec would have to invest an additional $1.4 billion per year in universities to bring their funding in line with that of other Canadian provinces.
Universities in other provinces rely a lot more on tuition revenue. Quebec tuition fees are among the lowest in Canada.