Montreal's mayor is questioning Quebec's tuition hike as applications to English universities dwindle

Applications to Concordia and McGill universities are down as Quebec plans to raise tuition fees for English universities.

There are fewer out-of-province students than last year, and Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante on Wednesday questioned the reasons for the province's controversial plans.

At McGill, applications for out-of-province students dropped 22 percent, and international students dropped 7 percent.

Meanwhile, Concordia saw a 5 percent drop in applications for Quebec students. It's much higher for out-of-province students, at 27 percent. International student applications decreased by 10 percent.

“It's very concerning. Unfortunately, it's something we anticipated and tried to explain to the government in the fall when they announced their intention to raise tuition fees,” said Concordia president Graham Carr.

Higher Education Minister Pascal Dery urges caution as applications and enrollments vary.

“We are talking now, this is about admission. There is a limit, March 1 for admission, and then we have to see the registrations. So we all have to be careful with the numbers. I want to make sure that we see the numbers (along with the registrations),” said the minister.

But Carr says the decline is unprecedented.

“It's hard to imagine anything that's going to beat a 27 percent gap in March. You know, if we're talking about a 2 or 3 percent gap, that's probably kind of a normal fluctuation from one year to the next enrollment cycle,” he said.

Quebec plans to raise tuition fees for out-of-province students by $3,000, despite an expert panel recommending against the tuition hike.

“We don't agree on the money aspect, we don't agree that a student should pay more to come to an English university than a French one,” said Eric Tessier, president of the Comité consultatif sur l'accessibilité fiancière aux études (CCAFE). .

Mayor Plante says the tuition hike feels like an attack on Montreal because Episcopal University received a discount.

“I don't understand why the government decided to leave the bishop out of this bill, but it will apply to the universities of Montreal. I don't understand. I need an explanation. Why?” – the mayor said on Wednesday.

Dery says he will continue to work with both universities.

McGill and Concordia have announced scholarships to offset tuition increases, but both schools expect to lose tens of millions of dollars as a result of the government's plans.