Queen’s Park is trimming its postsecondary education budget in the years ahead, even as Ontario’s colleges and universities face a mounting financial crisis pushed by the federal cap on international students.
According to the 2025 provincial budget, funding for the postsecondary sector is projected to decline from $14.2 billion last year to roughly $13 billion this year and next, and fall again to $12.8 billion by 2027 — a drop of nearly 10 per cent over three years.
This comes as the Council of Ontario Universities (COU) warns of a $600 million loss in revenue in 2025-26, driven largely by federal restrictions on international student enrolment. These students pay significantly higher tuition fees and have helped subsidize operating costs at many institutions for years.