The Disproportionately High Cost of Being an International Student in Nova Scotia

Writing and Data Visualization by Shea McInnis

Thumbnail Photo by Kaung Myat Min on Unsplash

The university experience is meant to be centred around growth, both personal and professional. Between classes, new social groups, and new responsibilities, when they hand you a degree you leave campus a different person than when you first arrived. Many students even take it a step further and travel to a new country to complete a degree. Nova Scotia is becoming an increasingly popular destination for students from across the globe wishing to study abroad. Data from 2018/2019 shows Nova Scotia as having the fourth-highest percentage of international students in the country, behind British Columbia, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island (see figure below). Additionally, Nova Scotia’s international student enrollment increased by 24% for the 2019-2020 academic year with retention rates (the proportion of international students who stay in Nova Scotia after they graduate) climbing as high as 12.6%.

Data obtained from: Statistics Canada

Despite Nova Scotia’s popularity as a place of study for international students, they are held to a different standard by universities when compared to domestic students. In a recent example of this double standard, international students returning to Nova Scotia from outside of the country (and who are living off-campus, such as in an apartment) were required to pay out of pocket to quarantine for fourteen days in approved hotels or campus residence buildings. These costs came on top of their existing rent expenses with no support from the universities. But, where did this requirement come from? The Federal Government of Canada does not force non-student international travellers into predetermined locations. Instead, federal guidelines only require travellers to state where they will do their fourteen-day quarantine. The Government of Nova Scotia mandates a fourteen-day quarantine for non-students arriving in the province from outside of Newfoundland and Labrador or Prince Edward Island (both from domestic and international locations). However, they allow these travellers to quarantine in their homes. For international students, specific guidelines were released. The Federal Government of Canada requires that “Designated Learning Institutions” (such as high schools, colleges, and universities) help students abide by the Quarantine Act, by helping to, for example, provide supplies, or by providing transportation to a place of quarantine. However, the Federal government does not formally define what a “place of quarantine” is and instead gives a list of acceptable places of quarantine, including commercial housing (e.g., an apartment). At the provincial level, the Nova Scotian government gives “oversight responsibility” to post-secondary institutions, but does not specifically require international students to quarantine in a campus residence or a hotel. Despite this, Saint Mary’s University, Dalhousie University, and Mount Saint Vincent University all made the choice to require off-campus international students to quarantine at expensive accommodations. At SMU, returning students are given three options: an on-campus residence room (totalling $1750 for fourteen days, which SMU takes as profit), the Hampton Inn ($1548), or Homewood Suites ($1860). This exploitative requirement is frustrating to many who are already paying Halifax’s high rent and is outright tone-deaf after tuition increases during a global pandemic where educational quality has certainly dropped. International students already pay much higher tuition than domestic students and did not need to add a two-week hotel bill on top of it.

Furthermore, the financial burdens of international students are made much worse by international tuition rates. International graduate and undergraduate students pay much more for an equivalent education. At Saint Mary’s University, any international student can expect to pay 2.5 times more for tuition compared to a Nova Scotian student, and 2.1 times more compared to a student not receiving the Nova Scotia University Student Bursary (i.e. a Canadian out-of-province student). Issues with high international tuition have been voiced by students across Nova Scotia, with protests against international tuition becoming an increasingly frequent event on many Nova Scotian campuses. The rates of tuition increases have been independently analyzed, and in Ontario, it was found that international tuition increases at a rate that is four times higher than that of domestic tuition increases. 

Photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash

These tuition increases contribute to the financial burden experienced by international students and is a significant cause of food insecurity amongst international students. One study found that international students at Memorial University in Newfoundland (and this may likely generalize to other institutions) rely on the campus food banks significantly more than their domestic counterparts. The financial struggle faced by international students was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, where international students were not eligible for the Canada Emergency Student Benefit, and many did not qualify for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. These financial struggles are associated with disproportionately high rates of mental health issues and burnout among students (and especially among graduate students). “The extra costs mean I have to find a part-time job to pay rent and eat,” said one anonymous international graduate student. “I get less time to do the same work as a domestic student, not to mention I’m studying in my second language. I’ve even gotten comments from professors implying that I shouldn’t be struggling”.

In conclusion, international students face disproportionately high financial barriers throughout their university career. Despite this, much to the benefit of institutions, international students flock to Nova Scotia. International tuition fees line the pockets of upper administration while students and instructional staff struggle to make ends meet. It is obvious that extremely high international tuition fees are not required; recently, Queen’s University announced that international Ph.D. students will pay the same tuition costs as domestic students. Therefore, how can the Presidents of SMU and Dal sleep at night while taking home a quarter of a million dollars and half a million dollars respectively, while their students and staff face extreme financial struggle? With international tuition still constantly increasing, we are fast approaching a point where international students will no longer be able to justify the costs to study abroad. When will this bubble burst? When will international tuition fees increase to the point that international students instead choose to stay home, and will university administration keep pressing their luck up to that point?