Indian international students at Humber College pay tuition several times higher than domestic students, according to a vice president at the college.
International students as a whole put more money into the colleges’ coffers than the province.
Inderjeet Singh, a third-year computer tech student, said he pays $9,029 each semester for his tuition, compared to domestic classmates who pay $1,907.34 per semester.
Singh said balancing his expenses is one of the hardest things he’s done here in Canada, along with monthly expenses he needs to arrange for his tuition.
“With inflation, managing everyday expenses is a task in itself, let alone arranging for tuition,” he said.
With a sister back home that his parents look after, Singh said they can’t help him if he asks them for tuition for another semester.
“Honestly, my family back home is not that financially stable to support fees of $9,000, education should be available to all at a fair and equal price,” Singh said.
Like a majority of international students at Humber College, Singh is Indian, and he thought the difference in tuition was unfair.
Inderjeet Singh, a third-semester computer technician student at Humber College. Photo credit: Abhisha Nanda
The difference between domestic and international tuition fees is more than four times, as shown through Humber’s Journalism program, which proves more costly for international students.
A new report about the state of postsecondary education in Canada said that international students from India are funding Ontario colleges more than the provincial government.
Jason Hunter, vice president for Students and Institutional Planning at Humber, said colleges earn nothing from domestic students. Indeed, domestic tuitions are almost at a loss, as the cost to offer the program is more than they earn out of it.
“The provincial government subsidizes the fee for domestic students, and they pay almost nothing,” Hunter said.
He said around two-thirds of international students at Humber College are Indian.
“It would be right to say that Indian students are funding Ontario’s education more than Ontario is funding its education,” he said.
Hunter estimated the difference between the two tuitions is a few thousand dollars. The actual difference is sometimes even more than $4,000, according to the international/tuition fee schedule.
“The fee structure varies from program to program, a few courses that are more expensive to offer have a higher rate of difference,” Hunter said.
Hemal Dodiya, a paralegal student at Humber said she pays $8,800 every semester for her tuition and a $1,000 deposit. She said her domestic classmates pay only $1,892.34 in tuition and only $250 in deposit.
Dodiya said she works full-time along with her studies, as part-time wages barely manage her rent and food.
Hemal Dodiya is a paralegal student at Humber College. She pays multiple times tuition more than domestic students. Indian students are paying more into Ontario colleges than the province government. Photo credit: Abhisha Nanda
“My family back home is stable enough to support me here financially but as an independent girl, I want to do it all on my own,” Dodiya said.
Dodiya wants her parents to prioritize taking care of her siblings.
She said the difference between the two fees is because colleges want to earn more, and can only do so by raising fees for international students.
Preetkamal Kaur, a second-semester business marketing student, said she will have to work around 40 hours weekly to earn the $8,401.50 she needs to pay in tuition every semester.
She said her friends have told her that many times that her work will make her compromise on her studies and she will have to deal with it.
“Sometimes you get home at 11 p.m. from work and would have an assignment due in 50 minutes,” Kaur said.
She said as an independent girl, she wants to overcome every hurdle in her path to become self-independent.
“I don’t want to burden my parents for more money,” Kaur said. “They have already paid for my first year of college.”
She said she knows Humber College offers financial aid services to international students, applying for scholarships every semester, but has yet to win.
“I hope the administration realizes how difficult it is for international students and gives us some relief for our tuition fee,” she said.