The Perilous Lives of International Students
April 17, 2024 11:25 AM Subscribe
They come here for the promise of a good education and a better future. Then they discover the target on their backs. (slTorontoLife)
The mere existence of international students is currently a hot button issue here in Canada; they're being blamed for a lot of our current housing/job woes despite being handily exploited by just about everyone who can do so.
The mere existence of international students is currently a hot button issue here in Canada; they're being blamed for a lot of our current housing/job woes despite being handily exploited by just about everyone who can do so.
No mention of the now perilous lives of Muslim and Chinese international students (among others) who graduate then stay and run academic labs on bog-standard grants or develop industry breakthroughs but then find out they have no political power as they never changed citizenship since they planned on retiring in their home country. This is the group who got caught in the Trump Visa crap he pulled less than 2 wks in office or the current "don't sell property to Chinese nationals" and IMO is a much more "perilous" life than what is covered here. I agree with jaquilynne that this is a weird article.
posted by beaning at 12:13 PM on April 17 [8 favorites]
posted by beaning at 12:13 PM on April 17 [8 favorites]
Yeah this article is terrible. We start out with one international student, Chan, agreeing to become a kidnapper in exchange for money. Several paragraphs follow which consist of kidnapping-related details whose relevance to the story is unfathomable, and which never become relevant in the rest of the article (e.g. complications and delays in the kidnapping). It then turns out that the person who was kidnapped is another international student, Jin. Ookay. We're now talking about two students, Chan and Jin, and we're being told that them being international students has caused them to end up here: one as a kidnapper, one as a kidnapping victim.
And then we get this summation for the whole incident, which is also the thesis statement for this article:
> International students like Jin are vulnerable to a range of criminal schemes, most of which would be unthinkable to Canadian citizens.
Huh? Jin, if you recall, was the student who got kidnapped. He wasn't vulnerable to any criminal scheme, he was the victim of one. And why would getting kidnapped be unthinkable to Canadian citizens, exactly? Lots of Canadian citizens do get kidnapped every year. It makes no sense for this to be the thesis statement of the article.
If this sentence was meant to say Chan, not Jin, that's one hell of a thesis for this article: that international students are way more likely to become criminals than Canadian citizens are. What in the name of right wing white jesus is this nonsense? This is racist xenophobic conservative hysteria repackaged in white liberal wrappings, a wolfish article in sheep's clothing.
posted by MiraK at 12:22 PM on April 17 [3 favorites]
And then we get this summation for the whole incident, which is also the thesis statement for this article:
> International students like Jin are vulnerable to a range of criminal schemes, most of which would be unthinkable to Canadian citizens.
Huh? Jin, if you recall, was the student who got kidnapped. He wasn't vulnerable to any criminal scheme, he was the victim of one. And why would getting kidnapped be unthinkable to Canadian citizens, exactly? Lots of Canadian citizens do get kidnapped every year. It makes no sense for this to be the thesis statement of the article.
If this sentence was meant to say Chan, not Jin, that's one hell of a thesis for this article: that international students are way more likely to become criminals than Canadian citizens are. What in the name of right wing white jesus is this nonsense? This is racist xenophobic conservative hysteria repackaged in white liberal wrappings, a wolfish article in sheep's clothing.
posted by MiraK at 12:22 PM on April 17 [3 favorites]
The kidnapping stuff should have been a separate article as I am more interested in how these poor kids get exploited by others here in Canada. There are at least a handful of posts in my local subreddit on the regular from foreign students who ask if it is normal to not get paid for their first month of work in retail or food service. And yeah, they are too nervous to report wage theft despite a lot of us going, "Please report them! You have rights! You don't work for free!" Or how landlords jack up the rent insanely high for international students simply they feel they can fleece these folks.
These students are being sold a shitty bill of goods and I don't know how we can stop it, but I want us to. They deserve an excellent education and safety if they chose to come to Canada.
posted by Kitteh at 12:30 PM on April 17 [6 favorites]
These students are being sold a shitty bill of goods and I don't know how we can stop it, but I want us to. They deserve an excellent education and safety if they chose to come to Canada.
posted by Kitteh at 12:30 PM on April 17 [6 favorites]
Yingying Zhang, 26, a visiting Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was abducted, raped and murdered by Brendt Allen Christensen.
Yiran Fan, 30, a University of Chicago doctoral student, was killed by Jason Nightengale in a city-wide shooting spree that left five dead.
University of Chicago graduate Shaoxiong “Dennis” Zheng, 24, was shot to death by Alton Spann, 18, who later pawned his laptop and iPhone for $100.
John Hao, 20, is paralyzed from the chest down after he was wounded in Anthony Dwayne McRae’s mass shooting at Michigan State University.
Xinran Ji, a 24-year-old engineering student at USC, was beaten to death with a baseball bat by a group who targeted him because he was Chinese and they assumed he had money.
The perilous lives of international students indeed.
I know the source is talking about Canada, but the tales in the article pale in comparison to what's happened to international students to the south.
It should be a source of shame for Americans, but I don't think many are aware of it.
The Toronto Life article also got my goat in that it makes it seem like the international students bring the crime with them. It talks about this plot by Zang to kidnap Jin, and Maryam victimized by Kavin.
It also mentions another similar kidnapping of Wanzhen Lu, but glosses over the identities of those kidnappers, leaving the reader to assume it was another instance of Chinese bringing crime with them.
Lu was a victim of Dayne Sitladeen, Nathan Plater, Muzamil Addow, Abdullahi Adan, Hashim Abdullahi and Kyle Main.
But as the instances in America show, the victims are generally Chinese. The assailants are not.
posted by Borborygmus at 12:39 PM on April 17 [9 favorites]
Yiran Fan, 30, a University of Chicago doctoral student, was killed by Jason Nightengale in a city-wide shooting spree that left five dead.
University of Chicago graduate Shaoxiong “Dennis” Zheng, 24, was shot to death by Alton Spann, 18, who later pawned his laptop and iPhone for $100.
John Hao, 20, is paralyzed from the chest down after he was wounded in Anthony Dwayne McRae’s mass shooting at Michigan State University.
Xinran Ji, a 24-year-old engineering student at USC, was beaten to death with a baseball bat by a group who targeted him because he was Chinese and they assumed he had money.
The perilous lives of international students indeed.
I know the source is talking about Canada, but the tales in the article pale in comparison to what's happened to international students to the south.
It should be a source of shame for Americans, but I don't think many are aware of it.
The Toronto Life article also got my goat in that it makes it seem like the international students bring the crime with them. It talks about this plot by Zang to kidnap Jin, and Maryam victimized by Kavin.
It also mentions another similar kidnapping of Wanzhen Lu, but glosses over the identities of those kidnappers, leaving the reader to assume it was another instance of Chinese bringing crime with them.
Lu was a victim of Dayne Sitladeen, Nathan Plater, Muzamil Addow, Abdullahi Adan, Hashim Abdullahi and Kyle Main.
But as the instances in America show, the victims are generally Chinese. The assailants are not.
posted by Borborygmus at 12:39 PM on April 17 [9 favorites]
What in the name of right wing white jesus is this nonsense? This is racist xenophobic conservative hysteria repackaged in white liberal wrappings, a wolfish article in sheep's clothing.
Indeed, the article makes it sound like Chinese international students are bringing crime with them. The fact of the matter is, more often these Chinese international students are being led like sheep to slaughter by natives or people of other ethnicities, per the incidents I mention in my other comment.
The article even goes on to recount a similar kidnapping to the one Jin suffered, glossing over the identities of the attackers in that incident, leading the reader to assume it was more Chinese crime.
I don't think this is a very good front page post at all.
posted by Borborygmus at 12:42 PM on April 17 [2 favorites]
Indeed, the article makes it sound like Chinese international students are bringing crime with them. The fact of the matter is, more often these Chinese international students are being led like sheep to slaughter by natives or people of other ethnicities, per the incidents I mention in my other comment.
The article even goes on to recount a similar kidnapping to the one Jin suffered, glossing over the identities of the attackers in that incident, leading the reader to assume it was more Chinese crime.
I don't think this is a very good front page post at all.
posted by Borborygmus at 12:42 PM on April 17 [2 favorites]
But as the instances in America show, the victims are generally Chinese. The assailants are not.
I think that's a rather good assumption.
and I love how the discussion of Canada's problem immediately gets re-centered to the United States which would be fine with some various statistics as in housing numbers, crime rates, external and internal circumstances.what's interesting is that both countries have about the same amount of international students.
I thought this article was rather good.
back to the original subject, are there any links or does anybody have any data about increased housing construction in Canada for this year. I mean I see your lumber on trains coming into Michigan every day we're talking a lot of lumber but lumber alone does not build a house so what stands in the way of increased housing.
posted by clavdivs at 1:00 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
I think that's a rather good assumption.
and I love how the discussion of Canada's problem immediately gets re-centered to the United States which would be fine with some various statistics as in housing numbers, crime rates, external and internal circumstances.what's interesting is that both countries have about the same amount of international students.
I thought this article was rather good.
back to the original subject, are there any links or does anybody have any data about increased housing construction in Canada for this year. I mean I see your lumber on trains coming into Michigan every day we're talking a lot of lumber but lumber alone does not build a house so what stands in the way of increased housing.
posted by clavdivs at 1:00 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
I'm glad the article cited Alex Usher, a tremendous Canadian scholar of higher ed.
His blog is very useful.
posted by doctornemo at 1:34 PM on April 17 [4 favorites]
His blog is very useful.
posted by doctornemo at 1:34 PM on April 17 [4 favorites]
It's pretty obvious that universities and colleges in Canada have hit on international students as a useful source of revenue, without offering the actual students much in the way of support to acclimatize or integrate into Canadian society.
I remember one story, told a couple of times in the press, of an Indian student accepted to a college in Timmins, Ontario. She landed at Pearson Airport in Toronto and hailed an Uber to take her to the college...and that's when she realized that Timmins is a seven hour drive from Toronto. It was played a little for "look at these ignorant people" type takes, but it's clear that she was given next to no support from the people happy to take her money.
posted by fortitude25 at 1:58 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
I remember one story, told a couple of times in the press, of an Indian student accepted to a college in Timmins, Ontario. She landed at Pearson Airport in Toronto and hailed an Uber to take her to the college...and that's when she realized that Timmins is a seven hour drive from Toronto. It was played a little for "look at these ignorant people" type takes, but it's clear that she was given next to no support from the people happy to take her money.
posted by fortitude25 at 1:58 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
Among the biggest beneficiaries of foreign tuition are community colleges in Ontario, which, according to Usher, are composed of 55 per cent international students. In total, there are more than 400,000 international students in the province today, each paying between three and 10 times the domestic tuition rate. Usher estimates that this cohort brings in roughly $8.1 billion in annual college and university revenue, more than four times as much as provincial government grants.
In theory, none of this is a problem.
let me stop you right there.
posted by ZaphodB at 2:31 PM on April 17 [10 favorites]
In theory, none of this is a problem.
let me stop you right there.
posted by ZaphodB at 2:31 PM on April 17 [10 favorites]
happier story about two former International students;
Fed gets new owners
posted by yyz at 4:27 PM on April 17
Fed gets new owners
posted by yyz at 4:27 PM on April 17
so what stands in the way of increased housing.
Increased housing reduces the value of existing real estate, and perpetually ballooning house values are not only a sacred right, they're just about the only thing that grows in this economy. So while developers are buying up lots of land, and often on government pro-housing incentives, they make sure to manage the introduction of new housing at a rate that won't impact the appreciation of value. The industry has been willing to pause constructions en masse when values dipped, and the risk of fire in developments in progress seems to have an inverse relationship with trends in real estate pricing.
posted by rodlymight at 5:23 PM on April 17 [2 favorites]
Increased housing reduces the value of existing real estate, and perpetually ballooning house values are not only a sacred right, they're just about the only thing that grows in this economy. So while developers are buying up lots of land, and often on government pro-housing incentives, they make sure to manage the introduction of new housing at a rate that won't impact the appreciation of value. The industry has been willing to pause constructions en masse when values dipped, and the risk of fire in developments in progress seems to have an inverse relationship with trends in real estate pricing.
posted by rodlymight at 5:23 PM on April 17 [2 favorites]
That article is pretty terrible about presenting any kind of balanced view of the risks overseas students face. MiraK hits the nail on the head:
While overseas students (technically temporary migrants) are more vulnerable in some ways than locals, that vulnerability is no different to migrants coming through other pathways. The vulnerability is mostly lack of cultural understanding, but also lack of the normal support networks that people have at home, where family etc are around to keep an eye on young people. There are absolutely people that prey on migrants in various ways, but they aren't fussy about whether someone is a student or a refugee or a 'business' migrant or whatever - those people will prey on whoever is vulnerable and that includes preying on vulnerable locals.
There are also colleges that provide a pathway for students with no interest in actually studying but seeking a way to become permanent residents and the student pathway is the only one open to many people. These colleges are nothing more than visa factories, offering little or no tuition and turning a blind eye to students who never turn up in class as long as they pay their fees. While they exist, these are actually few in number and by far not the norm. I wish the regulator was better at identifying these, but they're pretty smart about hiding what they do, often completely falsifying attendance and assessment records to 'prove' they are genuine. There are people with a view that all of the colleges taking overseas students, as well as universities, are nothing more than fronts for migration scams and there are people who believe these institutions are exploiting overseas students with no goals other than to maximise profits. These people are wrong. All universities and the overwhelming majority of colleges are genuine in their desire to provide a quality education. Private colleges are businesses and seek to make a profit of course, but providing education is expensive and the overseas student market particularly is incredibly competitive, with tuition fees often being lower for overseas students than for locals.
The overseas student market is heavily regulated here and there are specific requirements for ensuring students understand things like the cost of living, how to get housing, transport etc long before they arrive here. Almost all colleges provide extensive support for and information to overseas students, particularly new arrivals. My understanding is the market is similar in Canada and, in both countries, persistent stories presenting outliers as the norm are incredibly unhelpful to both the colleges and the government agencies charged with regulating the sector.
The recent backlash here and in other countries against overseas students and the institutions that serve them is primarily due to two related factors, in my observation (I've been in this business for almost 30 years):
posted by dg at 6:19 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
What in the name of right wing white jesus is this nonsense? This is racist xenophobic conservative hysteria repackaged in white liberal wrappings, a wolfish article in sheep's clothing.I work for a College that has predominantly overseas students, in Australia, not Canada. The issues are the same, though.
While overseas students (technically temporary migrants) are more vulnerable in some ways than locals, that vulnerability is no different to migrants coming through other pathways. The vulnerability is mostly lack of cultural understanding, but also lack of the normal support networks that people have at home, where family etc are around to keep an eye on young people. There are absolutely people that prey on migrants in various ways, but they aren't fussy about whether someone is a student or a refugee or a 'business' migrant or whatever - those people will prey on whoever is vulnerable and that includes preying on vulnerable locals.
There are also colleges that provide a pathway for students with no interest in actually studying but seeking a way to become permanent residents and the student pathway is the only one open to many people. These colleges are nothing more than visa factories, offering little or no tuition and turning a blind eye to students who never turn up in class as long as they pay their fees. While they exist, these are actually few in number and by far not the norm. I wish the regulator was better at identifying these, but they're pretty smart about hiding what they do, often completely falsifying attendance and assessment records to 'prove' they are genuine. There are people with a view that all of the colleges taking overseas students, as well as universities, are nothing more than fronts for migration scams and there are people who believe these institutions are exploiting overseas students with no goals other than to maximise profits. These people are wrong. All universities and the overwhelming majority of colleges are genuine in their desire to provide a quality education. Private colleges are businesses and seek to make a profit of course, but providing education is expensive and the overseas student market particularly is incredibly competitive, with tuition fees often being lower for overseas students than for locals.
The overseas student market is heavily regulated here and there are specific requirements for ensuring students understand things like the cost of living, how to get housing, transport etc long before they arrive here. Almost all colleges provide extensive support for and information to overseas students, particularly new arrivals. My understanding is the market is similar in Canada and, in both countries, persistent stories presenting outliers as the norm are incredibly unhelpful to both the colleges and the government agencies charged with regulating the sector.
The recent backlash here and in other countries against overseas students and the institutions that serve them is primarily due to two related factors, in my observation (I've been in this business for almost 30 years):
- Housing shortages and the resulting costs increases - many countries are struggling with lack of supply of housing and this is driving prices. Lots of people blame overseas students for this, based on no evidence at all. Yes, overseas students need housing just like everyone else, but the increase in overseas students has been gradual long-term and is absolutely not a significant factor. Lack of investment in affordable housing by everyone involved has brought about this issue, not the non-existent avalanche of new overseas students.
- The perceived massive increase in the numbers of overseas student - I see lots of reporting claiming that the number of students has exploded over the past couple of years and, while that is true if you only consider the past couple of years, this view fails to take into account the impact of COVID. People making these claims are comparing student numbers now with what they were in the midst of COVID-induced border closures that saw a couple of years of literally zero overseas students arriving and falsely making claims that the growth is out of control. There has been a spike in new arrivals as students that were enrolled and either deferred or studying online arrive, but that has settled down and numbers are stabilised with the steady growth that we've seen for decades.
posted by dg at 6:19 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
2. The perceived massive increase in the numbers of overseas student
dg, I can't speak for Australia (your situation sounds much better regulated than ours) but for Canada, there genuinely has been a massive increase. As a country we've gone from hosting 122,000 international students in 2000 to 1,040,985 in 2023. Obviously there's a ton of xenophobia wrapped up in the topic but on this point the numbers are pretty clear.
posted by ZaphodB at 11:46 PM on April 17 [6 favorites]
dg, I can't speak for Australia (your situation sounds much better regulated than ours) but for Canada, there genuinely has been a massive increase. As a country we've gone from hosting 122,000 international students in 2000 to 1,040,985 in 2023. Obviously there's a ton of xenophobia wrapped up in the topic but on this point the numbers are pretty clear.
posted by ZaphodB at 11:46 PM on April 17 [6 favorites]
The overseas student market is heavily regulated here and there are specific requirements for ensuring students understand things like the cost of living, how to get housing, transport etc long before they arrive here. Almost all colleges provide extensive support for and information to overseas students, particularly new arrivals. My understanding is the market is similar in Canada and, in both countries, persistent stories presenting outliers as the norm are incredibly unhelpful to both the colleges and the government agencies charged with regulating the sector.
It is not regulated well here. Our Conservative premier cut funding for universities and colleges a few years ago, capping the tuition they could charge domestic students, so for the past five years or so, Ontario in particular has really really been relying on international students for money. They can charge what they like, take these folks' money, and one can only hope the students receive the education they paid for. I want more regulation; I want colleges especially to make sure these folks are taken care of once they get here. That they know their rights, that they know what is available to them, and are not exploited. I live in a university town. You have Queen's University, which is comprised of mostly rich white kids with rich international kids. That's always been the norm. But then there's St Lawrence College as well which has brought in more international students than ever and I see how those students struggle to pay bills, study, and just live. Like, IIRC, they can't work more than a certain number hours a week legally, and how can they thrive here like they should?
It sucks harder because we have a volatile neighbour we share a border with and their shit bleeds over. Canada will most likely have a Conservative PM next election and these folks are going to get scapegoated harder than they are.
posted by Kitteh at 5:00 AM on April 18 [4 favorites]
It is not regulated well here. Our Conservative premier cut funding for universities and colleges a few years ago, capping the tuition they could charge domestic students, so for the past five years or so, Ontario in particular has really really been relying on international students for money. They can charge what they like, take these folks' money, and one can only hope the students receive the education they paid for. I want more regulation; I want colleges especially to make sure these folks are taken care of once they get here. That they know their rights, that they know what is available to them, and are not exploited. I live in a university town. You have Queen's University, which is comprised of mostly rich white kids with rich international kids. That's always been the norm. But then there's St Lawrence College as well which has brought in more international students than ever and I see how those students struggle to pay bills, study, and just live. Like, IIRC, they can't work more than a certain number hours a week legally, and how can they thrive here like they should?
It sucks harder because we have a volatile neighbour we share a border with and their shit bleeds over. Canada will most likely have a Conservative PM next election and these folks are going to get scapegoated harder than they are.
posted by Kitteh at 5:00 AM on April 18 [4 favorites]
There's a Senate report Strengthening the integrity of Canada’s international student program
It's a 25 page pdf.
Though it has a lot of basically political bull ,it does have some statistics.
At the end of 2022, Canada was home to some 807,750 international students—quadruple the
country’s international student population in 2008.
Some 51% of international students settle in Ontario
International students with paid employment in Canada grew ten-fold from 21,800 in 2000 to
277,400 in 2018.
International students account for 68% of tuition revenue in Ontario.
Intrinsically, higher tuition for international students is not a problem
What is a problem, however, is the inability of Canadian DLIs to cover their operational
expenses without being so heavily reliant on international students
And this insane number;
IRCC launched a Letter of Acceptance Verification Project (LoAVP) in 2018. However, the article states just 24,000 LOAs have been examined under the project, with 3,000 being flagged for being forged 12.5%)
posted by yyz at 6:56 AM on April 18 [5 favorites]
I was talking about this issue with a friend who works in university institutional reporting and has been not directly involved but with kind of front row seats to some of the back channel discussions around this whole issue between government and some of our area universities.
The problem in Canada is that, due to lack of regulation in higher ed, a bunch of private, for-profit diploma mills have recently sprung up. US folks might remember back when this happened in the US and there were a bunch of high profile failures (Trump University being one that was not notable at the time but is now), and students left with insane debt loads and no recognized degrees. That’s what’s been happening in Canada, except, due to demographics, they have largely targeted international students.
Now, the reasonable solution would to better regulate the industry. Heck, Canada historically hasn’t really had private universities or colleges at all. (Note for non-Canadians: in Canada, “university” = 4-year undergraduate bachelor’s granting institution, with or without graduate programs; “college” = 2-year programs, sometimes university prep or sometimes trades or career-focused - like community colleges or career colleges in the US.) But the separation of powers in Canada means that’s a provincial, not federal, responsibility. And Ford in Ontario dgaf (probably had some buddies making bank on the schemes, for all I know). What the federal government does have control over is immigration, so they end up putting restrictions on international students themselves, and the well-publicized cap. My friend’s rosy theory is that the federal Liberals wanted to protect international students better but used the housing crisis to sell the immigration measures (which are clearly not the best way to address the lack of regulation but the only thing the federal government could do) because lots of Canadians are racists/xenophobic and wouldn’t have cared about the real issue. I tend to disagree on that, as well as on the messaging around the international student cap that has rather exacerbated xenophobic sentiment. But my friend also made the excellent point that most of these “schools” are in smaller towns (like Timmins, as one of the examples quoted above). And while yes, the influx of international students without adequate (or any) dorm housing or other support facilities has created very serious localized pressures, that’s not what has been impacting the housing market in the cities, where the majority of Canadians live. The problem of these for-profit, poorly regulated colleges exploiting international students is largely a separate issue from the national housing crisis in Canada.
Now, landlords and employers have been illegally exploiting, taking advantage of, and effectively stealing from international students who are in Canada to attend legit colleges and universities in cities and towns across Canada for decades. That has been a constant thread through the tenants rights activism I’ve been involved in over my 20 years here. Also a problem, albeit not a new one.
posted by eviemath at 2:41 PM on April 18 [4 favorites]
The problem in Canada is that, due to lack of regulation in higher ed, a bunch of private, for-profit diploma mills have recently sprung up. US folks might remember back when this happened in the US and there were a bunch of high profile failures (Trump University being one that was not notable at the time but is now), and students left with insane debt loads and no recognized degrees. That’s what’s been happening in Canada, except, due to demographics, they have largely targeted international students.
Now, the reasonable solution would to better regulate the industry. Heck, Canada historically hasn’t really had private universities or colleges at all. (Note for non-Canadians: in Canada, “university” = 4-year undergraduate bachelor’s granting institution, with or without graduate programs; “college” = 2-year programs, sometimes university prep or sometimes trades or career-focused - like community colleges or career colleges in the US.) But the separation of powers in Canada means that’s a provincial, not federal, responsibility. And Ford in Ontario dgaf (probably had some buddies making bank on the schemes, for all I know). What the federal government does have control over is immigration, so they end up putting restrictions on international students themselves, and the well-publicized cap. My friend’s rosy theory is that the federal Liberals wanted to protect international students better but used the housing crisis to sell the immigration measures (which are clearly not the best way to address the lack of regulation but the only thing the federal government could do) because lots of Canadians are racists/xenophobic and wouldn’t have cared about the real issue. I tend to disagree on that, as well as on the messaging around the international student cap that has rather exacerbated xenophobic sentiment. But my friend also made the excellent point that most of these “schools” are in smaller towns (like Timmins, as one of the examples quoted above). And while yes, the influx of international students without adequate (or any) dorm housing or other support facilities has created very serious localized pressures, that’s not what has been impacting the housing market in the cities, where the majority of Canadians live. The problem of these for-profit, poorly regulated colleges exploiting international students is largely a separate issue from the national housing crisis in Canada.
Now, landlords and employers have been illegally exploiting, taking advantage of, and effectively stealing from international students who are in Canada to attend legit colleges and universities in cities and towns across Canada for decades. That has been a constant thread through the tenants rights activism I’ve been involved in over my 20 years here. Also a problem, albeit not a new one.
posted by eviemath at 2:41 PM on April 18 [4 favorites]
Continually decreasing provincial funding for higher ed since the 1970s had also led to continually increasing reliance on international tuition at legit Canadian universities; exacerbated in some cases by caps on % increases for tuition for Canadian students without corresponding caps on increases in international tuition. But that, again, has been a much slower moving problem that well-predates the current housing crisis. The recent growth in international students is largely attributable to the exploitative diploma mills (also related to why that increase is much higher in Ontario).
posted by eviemath at 2:49 PM on April 18 [3 favorites]
posted by eviemath at 2:49 PM on April 18 [3 favorites]
with tuition fees often being lower for overseas students than for locals.
Pretty sure this isn't true for any public institution in Canada.
As a country we've gone from hosting 122,000 international students in 2000 to 1,040,985 in 2023.
Perspective: ~1:40 residents is an international student.
posted by Mitheral at 5:22 AM on April 19 [1 favorite]
Pretty sure this isn't true for any public institution in Canada.
As a country we've gone from hosting 122,000 international students in 2000 to 1,040,985 in 2023.
Perspective: ~1:40 residents is an international student.
posted by Mitheral at 5:22 AM on April 19 [1 favorite]
(Note that the stats on international students in Canada, at least the ones I've seen, include students at all levels - so includes grade school students who have moved to Canada with their families, who intend to stay, are also included. I'm not sure what the proportional of immigration or of international students is - how much immigration is due to students coming for these exploitative diploma mills, or what proportion of international students this represents (from what I've heard anecdotally, most of the total increase over the past 2-3 years I think, but I don't have that actual data).
posted by eviemath at 8:29 AM on April 19
posted by eviemath at 8:29 AM on April 19
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