Georgian College has seen a 21 per cent drop in full-time enrolment of international students between fall 2023 and 2024. In an email to Barrie 360, the college said there were 8,201 full-time international students enrolled at Georgian for this fall, compared to 10,460 a year ago.
Georgian continues to work through its 2025-2026 budget, and as of June, is currently facing a $13 million deficit, the college said in the email.
"The 2026-27 budget process is ongoing, and numbers will be shared once that work is completed," the college added.
An arbitrated faculty contract between the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and the College Employer Council that was recently released said the federal government's cap on international students led to a dramatic decline in enrolment and tuition revenue, and the cancellation or suspension of more than 600 college programs.
On Wednesday, OPSEU said close to 10,000 college faculty and staff have either been let go or are projected to lose their jobs.
The union representing some 55,000 college faculty and support staff said the cuts amount to "one of the largest mass layoffs in Ontario's history" as colleges grapple with a funding crisis.
Georgian provided updated job figures to Barrie 360 in its email.
"There have been approximately 270 people impacted by workforce chance since January 2024, which includes voluntary retirement of staff and academic staff, the release of probationary employees, vacancy closures, and the employment termination of contract staff," the college stated.
The union said the layoffs and program suspensions at the colleges will have generational impacts, and college workers are prepared to fight back against the cuts.
"We need strong colleges today for the accessible, low-barrier job training that they offer, especially in the face of trade wars that are undercutting and restructuring our economy, " OPSEU President JP Hornick said at last week's press conference outside Centennial College's Story Arts Centre campus in Toronto, which is slated for closure in the summer of f2026.
Georgian announced in May that it was "temporarily pausing operations" at its John Di Poce South Georgian Bay campus in Collingwood as of Sept. 1.
“This temporary pause will allow us to reassess our operations and possible future offerings in South Georgian Bay ( SGB) so we can continue to effectively serve students, employers and our communities,” said Kevin Weaver, Georgian’s President and CEO, in a media release at the time.
“Part of our assessment will include considering local and regional demographic trends, industry and community employment opportunities, and plans for development and programming already offered at other Georgian campuses in proximity to SGB, balancing short-term needs and long-term possibilities.”
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Georgian said in an update to Barrie 360 last week that the school is carefully considering future plans for the campus and no decisions have been made about the long-term use of the property.
Georgian has pointed to several challenges the school and other Ontario colleges are facing, including persistent declines in international enrolment due to federal policy impacts on international student recruitment, and a provincial funding model that hasn't kept pace with institutional needs.
In Februrary 2024, the province said the freeze on tuition fees implemented in 2019 would be extended for Ontario students until at least 2026-27, though colleges were given the green light to increase tuition by up to five per cent for domestic, out-of-province students.
At last week's news conference, the union said the Ontario government and the colleges "never intended" to tell the public about the full scope of job and program cuts and that its workers fought "tooth and nail to get this information." Hornick also said the province has been chronically under-funding post-secondary education.
A spokesperson for Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn said OPSEU's claims against the government are "baseless and categorically false."
"In the last 14 months alone, we have provided unprecedented amounts of new funding to our publicly-assisted postsecondary sector, with over $2 billion in new funding into our colleges and universities, on top of the $5 billion we put into the sector every year," Bianca Giacoboni said in an emailed statement.
"Due to the federal government's unilateral changes to the international student system, difficult decisions are being made across the country in the post-secondary sector," Giacoboni said, adding that a college funding model review is set to begin this summer.
The College Employer Council, the bargaining agent for the province's publicly funded colleges, also disputed some of the union's claims.
"CEC has been informing OPSEU about the pending severity of this situation since Jan. 29, 2024. To suggest this information has been hidden from anyone is obviously wrong," CEO Graham Lloyd said in an emailed statement.
"All colleges have specially designated union committees that are consulted about all layoffs, suspensions and voluntary retirement packages for union employees...Any suggestion that the union has not been aware of the extent of the layoffs is simply inaccurate."
Lloyd said the 10,000 reported layoffs represent a staff reduction of about 17 per cent in a workforce of more than 60,000.
"This is certainly unfortunate but is not proportional to the 45 per cent reduction in student enrolment," he said.
- with files from The Canadian Press
