British Columbia’s public post-secondary system is facing the worst funding crisis in its history, according to a new report that found 19 of the province’s 25 public institutions are projected to operate at a loss, with an estimated $300 million shortfall province-wide.
The report, Rebuilding post-secondary education as public infrastructure in B.C. from B.C.Policy Solutions shows that since 2024, institutions have cut or suspended more than 180 programs. With these program cuts came the layoff of more than 1,300 faculty members and many contract staff as well as closing of more than 45 student services, with public colleges and teaching universities hit hardest.
While the immediate trigger was the federal government’s 2024 cap on international student study permits, the report says the underlying problem is decades of chronic provincial under-funding and the marketization of post-secondary education, which left institutions reliant on high international tuition fees to make ends meet.
The findings draw on interviews with faculty and staff association representatives, student union leaders, labour advocates, institutional leaders and higher education researchers, along with submissions to the 2022 and 2026 provincial sector reviews, government reports and academic literature.
Jen Wrye, president of the North Island College Faculty Association, said the report confirms what unions have been saying for years: that public post-secondary education in B.C. is chronically underfunded.
“We are at a crisis point that poses significant risk to British Columbia,” Wrye said. “The government needs to augment funding to support diverse and equitable learning opportunities for students without forcing them into crippling debt. Failing to do so will undermine our economy, competitiveness, and overall prosperity.”
The report calls for restoring public funding to at least 75 per cent of institutional operating costs, maintaining the two per cent cap on domestic tuition increases and extending it to international students and setting a timeline toward free education. It also recommends decolonizing post-secondary education by embedding Indigenous frameworks rooted in respect, responsibility, reciprocity and relevance as well as reforming governance to give faculty, staff, students and host Nations real decision-making power. It also calls for the end of “casualization of academic labour” by converting precarious contract positions into permanent, full-time roles.
Several Island institutions are featured in the report, including North Island College, Camosun and Vancouver Island University. International enrolment at North Island College (NIC) is down 30 per cent and the school is projecting an $8.4-million revenue shortfall by 2027. NIC has stopped accepting students into 10 per cent of its programs for the current school year and has cut or suspended 26 programs, including its Tourism and Hospitality Management offerings, Coastal Forestry Certificate and Diploma as well as the Bachelor of Business Administration Marketing major.
The college has also closed its Ucluelet Learning Centre and discontinued its interactive television course delivery technology.
Wrye said funding formulas have driven a slow, steady consolidation of campuses toward Comox, with Alert Bay, Port McNeill and Port Hardy locations already shut down. Wrye said the loss of fine arts programming, in particular, will leave a hole in community life.
“We’re losing this place where the community can coalesce around things that hit at your mind and hit at your heart and challenge people.”
North Island Students’ Union executive director Carissa Wilson said the drop in international students is keenly felt on campus and is rippling into local businesses and hiring.
Camosun College has seen its International enrolment fall 37 per cent, prompting four service cuts including reduced counselling services, fewer academic advisors, cuts to the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office and reductions to the student makerspace. The report’s program-cut tracker does not list any specific program closures at Camosun.
Camosun College Faculty Association president Lynelle Yutani said precarious, sessional instructors have borne the brunt of the cuts because they have little job security.
“Sessionals, or our precarious workers, have very few rights to future work,” Yutani said. “In fact, that’s the reason why it’s so easy to end their work by simply not offering those programs or courses.”
A 60 per cent drop in international graduate enrolment was reported by Vancouver Island University (VIU). They also experienced a 48 per cent drop in international undergraduate and developmental programs in the 2024-25 school year, translating into more than $10 million in lost tuition revenue. VIU has cut or suspended 32 programs, including its Bachelor of Business Administration, Economics major, Philosophy BA, Fisheries and Aquaculture BSc and Jazz Studies diploma.
The university has also made 15 service cuts, among them the closure of “The High School,” the end of its Elder College Partnership, the sale of its Parksville campus, the dissolution of its International Education Department and the cancellation of a planned childcare centre.
The report groups Camosun with North Island College and Vancouver Island University as among the institutions hit hardest by the crisis, warning that for Vancouver Island and rural and northern B.C., the funding shortfall threatens equitable access to education across the province.
To read the full report visit bcpolicy.ca.