Some N.B. schools now want more money up front from international students

Moncef Lakouas remembers how much his family in Morocco sacrificed for him to come to New Brunswick 20 years ago as an international student.

But as several schools in the province now require hefty deposits up front, in response to a federal cap on international students, Lakouas has no doubt about how this would have affected him if he were applying today.

"I wouldn't be here," Lakouas, the former president of the New Brunswick Multicultural Council, said.

"When I was an international student, it used to be based on merit and money. But now it sounds like it's based mostly on money."

Université de Moncton, Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick and New Brunswick Community College are all blaming Ottawa, claiming they're faced with little choice but to ask for larger deposits to compensate for a limited number of acceptance letters they can send out.

International students applying to Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick will now have to pay a full semester's tuition as a deposit when applying. The school, and others with similar practices, blame the federal international student cap. (Serge Bouchard/Radio-Canada)

In January, the federal government capped the number of international students allowed into Canada at 360,000, with New Brunswick getting 5,580 of those.

But the government also capped how many 'letters of attestation,' essentially acceptance letters, schools can send.

The new process goes like this.

A student applies to a school and once accepted, the school will give them a "letter of attestation." Letter in hand, the student can apply to the government for a study permit.

But since letters are limited, schools are taking extra measures to ensure students are serious before getting one.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada recently announced a cap on international students, but also limits how many acceptance letters Canadian schools can send out. (Ivanoh Demers/CBC)

Their solution is asking for higher payments sooner in the application process.

International students applying to U de M now have to put up either $4,000 or $8,000 as a deposit, depending on the country they are from, said U de M spokesperson Paul Ward.

He defended the university's move as a way to ensure students with little intention to come to the school don't get letters of attestation.

"It's not a measure that is negative, it's to make us more efficient because we deal with a lot of applications that don't even choose our university after they apply. They're applying everywhere," Ward said.

This amount is paid at the time of application and is put toward tuition if the student attends, he said. If their study permit is denied, the deposit is refunded by the school. But if they attend a different school, they lose the funds.

The federal government requires students to prove "financial sufficiency" in order to be given a study permit. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's website says students must prove they have enough money to cover the first year of tuition, as well as a separate $20,635 to prove they can handle Canada's cost of living.

Currently, 38 per cent of the student body at U de M is made up of international students.

Université de Moncton will now require international students to pay a $4,000 or $8,000 deposit when they apply, to make sure they are serious about coming. (CBC)

Ward said U de M is not targeting students from specific countries, but going by history. The school has seen a rapid increase in international applications in recent years, he said, citing Algeria as an example, which had 1,555 applications to the school but only 10 students were offered a spot.

Lakouas, a graduate of U de M himself, said new requirements will discriminate against students without the means to cover such large deposits.

"That's what I'm afraid of, its becoming very much transactional, based on your ability to pay."

He added that large universities are relying on international students to balance their budget and are able to create these new rules because of supply and demand.

"We are moving from an honour system, where people are qualifying based on merit, to a system where people are pretty much assessed on their ability to pay."

School doesn't want to waste letters, president says

Pierre Zundel, president of CCNB, said the school now requires students to deposit the full first semester tuition so the school doesn't "waste" letters of attestation.

Zundel said it ensures students have the financial means to attend, which they will have to prove to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada anyway.

"Unfortunately, in the current context, with a limited number of letters of attestation available, we don't have much of a choice. We have to do something to make sure that those letters of attestation are used on students that are likely to come."

Pierre Zundel, CCNB President, defended the move as needed to make sure the school's limited letters of attestation are not 'wasted.' (Markus Schwabe/CBC)

Zundel and Ward both said they are waiting for guidance from the province on whether the letters of attestation are reusable for someone else, if a student doesn't end up coming to the school.

Paul Bradley, a spokesperson for the Department of Post-Secondary Education, said they understand the challenges schools are facing under new guidelines, and the province supports "any decisions they make" to best use letters of attestation, including charging higher deposits.

He added that the decision on reusing the letters rests with Ottawa and still has not been decided.

When asked for clarification, a spokesperson for the federal government said in an emailed statement that once a letter of attestation is submitted by a student in their application for a study permit, it is considered used.

NBCC also implemented changes

Another institution, NBCC, has updated its fee schedule because of the new student cap, a spokesperson said in an email statement. A new non-refundable deposit of $1,000 is now required on top of a previous $500 deposit from the fall, to be applied to tuition.

Charray Owens said the change is for NBCC to better manage "accurate enrolment information" and to make sure eligible applicants "are supported in every way possible," but she did not explain exactly what this means.

The new deposit was communicated to students on March 11 and is due less than a month later, by March 31.

NBCC is requiring international students to put down an extra $1,000 deposit when applying, on top of a $500 deposit already required. The school gave students less than a month to come up with the money. (Sam Farley/CBC News)

Anna Dedicatoria is an incoming student at NBCC this fall from the Philippines. She said the new deposit doesn't affect her, and she understands why it was implemented.

"I am well aware that I have to have sufficient funds to sustain my study in Canada long before I have submitted my admissions applications to NBCC last year," Dedicatoria said in an email.

"In my opinion, this move will help the student decide and finalize their study plans early on," she wrote.

UNB has not responded to repeated requests for comment on whether the university has implemented similar policies. A Mount Allison University spokesperson said that school is not increasing fees or deposits.

St. Thomas University is considering a possible increase in deposits and requiring them sooner, a spokesperson said in an email.

"We are still trying to make sense of what it all means, how it will impact our enrolment, and navigate the changes as they come," said Ashlen Albright.

Rule changes came too fast, schools say

Université de Moncton's Ward said the change will likely reduce applications, and he welcomed relief from being inundated with high volumes the school has been facing. But he said it's still too early to tell how the new system will affect how many students show up in the fall.

"We do welcome the structure, but the process is not in place for us to have confidence that the province and the IRCC will be able to make this the most efficient system," Ward said.

Ward said the student cap came when the school was nearly done with admissions season, so the new deposit requirement won't end up applying to most students.

However, Zundel said the system was implemented far too fast and without knowing if it would work.

"This is a system that it would have been reasonable to announce now for the implementation in the fall of 2025," Zundel said.

"To do it with a couple of months, essentially, is simply not consistent with how long things take, not only with the federal government or for the provinces to put in place."