A Quebec Superior Court judge has denied Concordia University’s request to delay a controversial tuition increase for out-of-province and international students.
Judge Eric Dufour ruled on July 12 that the suspension of the tuition increase would affect the Quebec government’s funding plan for universities across the province. Concordia had asked for a stay until its legal challenge to the tuition changes could be heard.
Quebec’s two largest English-speaking universities are opposing the tuition fee hike announced last fall by the Quebec government as a measure to protect the French language. They argue that the change is discriminatory and will hurt enrollment.
Concordia demonstrated that it would face “serious or irreparable harm” from the new rules, Dufour wrote, but that was not enough to justify suspending the increase.
A Concordia spokesperson said the request for a stay was “just one step in the process and we look forward to our arguments being heard on the merits.”
Starting this fall, international students at Quebec universities will pay 33% more in tuition, or about $12,000 a year. Tuition for international students will be at least $20,000.
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Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry announced the changes last October, saying they were necessary to prevent the decline of the French language in Quebec. The government promised to redistribute the additional funds to francophone universities, which receive fewer foreign and international students.
The government originally planned to double tuition for foreign students to $17,000. In December, Déry reduced the increase to $12,000, but added a requirement that 80 percent of foreign and non-provincial students would have to learn French.
Both Concordia and McGill University maintain that the tuition hike constitutes discrimination under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Concordia says it anticipates a 12 per cent reduction in enrollment and a loss of $21 million in funding for the 2024-25 school year.
The university told the court that the loss of students from outside the province and other countries would affect the “financial stability of the university and its academic development, to the detriment of the anglophone community in Quebec.”
But the Quebec government countered that Article 15 of the Charter does not protect people from discrimination based on language. The solicitor general argued that postponing the tuition increase would require “a reassessment of the budgetary rules for the entire university network,” according to the decision.
Concordia and McGill have filed separate lawsuits challenging the tuition hike. Their arguments will be heard in court this fall.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
