By Sorousheh Salman

Bill 33, the Supporting Children and Students Act, 2025, introduced on May 29 to Ontario’s legislature by the Minister of Education, Paul Calandra has raised concerns among students across various post-secondary institutions.

The bill aims to seek more governmental authority over post-secondary institutions, including regulating student fees and monitoring “merit” based admissions, which has raised concerns about how domestic and international students’ tuition and university services will be affected. 

“Education has been chronically and intentionally underfunded for decades and continues to be underfunded. The [provincial] government proves to us that education is not a priority,” said Omar Mousa, the National Executive Representative for the Canadian Student Federation-Ontario (CFS-Ontario).

Third-year business management student, Kaavya Santhanakrishnan, who is an international student, told The Eyeopener that she has noticed an increase in her tuition since she began her studies at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) in 2022. There has been an approximately 16 per cent increase in tuition for international students at the Ted Rogers School of Management (TRSM) since 2022. Santhanakrishnan’s tuition at TRSM presently averages from $42,316 to $42,372. 

The average international student’s tuition is 3.62 times higher than a domestic student‘s tuition at TRSM.

“International student fees have continuously been growing and growing and this is to make up for the lack of funding [from] the government,” said Mousa. 

Ontario has not regulated international tuition for post-secondary institutions since 1996, according to CFS-Ontario, while domestic tuition has been regulated and unchanged since 2019. As a result, according to the Ontario General’s 2024 follow-up audit, universities have become increasingly reliant on international student tuition since the 2019 domestic tuition freeze. In 2024, 100 per cent of students at Algoma University’s Centre of Project Management were international students. 

“Ideally, we would all want the same tuition, same regulation, same rules, but that does affect a lot of things that [are] behind the scenes,” said Santhanakrishnan.

Mousa said that the lack of responsibility from the provincial government leads to the increasing exploitation of international students.

“There [are] so many program cuts that are happening across different campuses,” said Mousa. Centennial College has officially suspended 54 programs as of 2025, underscoring the financial strain many institutions are now experiencing. These financial pressures may have arisen from the federal cap on international student permits, which according to a 2024 annual report by the International Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), aims to “alleviate pressures on services in Canada.”

Zoha Israr, a domestic third-year Human Resources Management Major student at TMU, said that if governmental regulation took place for international fees, there is a risk for student clubs and administrations closing down. 

“I’m in the TEDxTorontoMetUClub [a student group at TMU], and I’ve definitely heard that our finance team has been struggling to manage the funds this year because [the budget] has decreased a lot from last year. So our conference and events have to be budgeted tightly for now,” said Israr. 

Santhanakrishnan said while Bill 33 proposes governmental regulation that can lead to lower tuition, it can also affect university funding and lead to cuts that impact the overall student life at TMU. “It is scary to think about,” she said. 

CFS-Ontario has requested direct meetings with Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security. and brought their attention online to raising concerns with Bill 33, but did not receive a response.

While the Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union said they stand with the statements of CFS-Ontario, they have also been struggling to get in contact with Quinn.

“Nolan Quinn has been avoiding any form of engagement with us,” said Mousa.

Mousa said the government is “well-aware” that students do not agree with the passing of Bill 33 and its aspects of government oversight and control over post-secondary institutions that undermine student and university autonomy. 

Israr added that “Bill 33 should have been made a lot more clear to domestic students and international students.” 

The bill’s definition of “merit-based admissions,” according to Mousa, serves as a “dog whistle” to justify making education less accessible. He emphasized that universities use academic merit and this bill risks undoing progress toward more equitable access.

Mousa also argued that Indigenous, Black and racialized students remain intentionally underrepresented due to a lack of pathway program funding. 

“If the government’s focus is on ‘profitable’ programs, this makes education even less accessible to all,” he said. 

“At the end of the day, even if [the provincial government] doesn’t care, it’s our job to make them care and we will make them care,” said Mousa.