Conestoga College is significantly reducing its support and academic staff following a reduction in the number of international students being allowed into Canada.

The college, in December, issued layoff notices to almost 400 support staff and faculty. The layoffs affected staff at campuses in Kitchener, Cambridge, Waterloo and Brantford.

“Conestoga is required by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities to present a balanced budget each year,” the college said in a statement. “Without significant reductions in operating costs, the college faces a fiscal deficit.

“To achieve a balanced budget, we must align our resources with the reality that we have lost thousands of international students.”

The college will likely continue to be impacted given the recent announcement of further reductions to international student caps for 2026 to 2028, the statement said.

“Simply put, we no longer require the same complement of faculty, staff and administrators as in 2024,” the statement said. “These difficult but necessary decisions are not taken lightly and reflect our responsibility to align resources and ensure long-term sustainability.”

The federal government in 2025 reduced the number of international study permits to 437,000, a decrease of 10 per cent from the 2024 cap.

Up to 408,000 study permits are expected to be issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in 2026. In 2024, the study permit target was 485,000.

College officials said, in the statement, that international enrolment dropped nearly 80 per cent in 2025 compared to 2023.

Total enrolment for winter 2026 is projected at just over 15,000 students, down from nearly 29,000 in winter 2025 and 43,000 in 2024.

The situation and its impacts on program availability continues to evolve at Conestoga as the college continues to navigate these challenges, the statement said.

“Currently, the college is continuing with plans at Tollgate Technological Skills Centre to expand access to practical, hands-on-training that directly aligns with local workforce needs,” the college said in the statement.

Vikki Poirier, president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 238, said she doesn’t know how the college will function after cutting so many support staff.

“We’re the foundation of the college,” Poirier said. “We keep the college running.

“We’re not faculty, we’re not teaching but the supports we provide to help student success will be greatly reduced.”

Poirier said she’s really concerned about what the college will look like when the layoffs take effect in March 2026.

Meanwhile, the reduction in international student enrolment is only part of the story, Poirier said.

Community colleges are underfunded by the provincial government and international students help cover the shortfall, Poirier said.

Bianca Giacoboni, a spokesperson for Nolan Quinn, Ontario’s Minister of Colleges and Universities, said the provincial government continues to support Ontario’s post-secondary school institutions.

“In the last year alone, our government has invested nearly a billion dollars into our publicly assisted colleges and universities to fund over 100,000 more seats in programs that produce graduates to meet Ontario’s labour market demands,” Giacoboni said.

That is on top of the historic $1.3 billion previously invested, she said.

“We are also currently working with our post-secondary partners on how to modernize the funding model into a more responsive, sustainable and future-ready framework,” Giacoboni said.

Beth Gurney, director, strategic communications and community engagement at Laurier Brantford, said that the university has worked proactively since 2019 to mitigate financial risks and has achieved more than $40 million in base budget reductions.

The reductions follow a review of business practices, revenue-generating opportunities and new in-demand academic programs, Gurney said.

“These proactive mitigation measures, combined with a consistently modest percentage of international students (currently 5.8% of our student population), means that the impact of the international study permit cap on international student enrolment and university finances has been moderate relative to the sector,” Gurney said. “People are critical to delivering Laurier’s mission and our goal is to protect people and jobs as much as we can.

“At this point, we do not anticipate hiring freezes or impacts on occupied positions.”

Meanwhile, Gurney said Laurier, along with its post-secondary sector colleagues, will continue to advocate for a sustainable and predictable provincial funding model. (The Expositor)

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