2/n The report starts with:

"It is the fall of 2025, and the state of postsecondary education in Canada is not good. The main cause of this is the perilous situation of public funding for higher education.”

I will try to keep things visual and brief here, the charts speak volumes.

The timeline is also personal. 2007 to 2024 is most of my entire 25 year career in PSE.
Spending? Flat. Despite inflation.
Per-Student funding? mostly same.

@josie_osborne @mlabotterell @votetanille @emilylowan

3/n now the truth starts to be revealed.

Has the value of education changed? At risk of drawing parallels to Trumpian demands for NATO targets ... what percent of GDP should a nation or province devote to post-secondary education? We're at 1% right now.

From $900 to just over $700 “per inhabitant" (a weird term)

Federal and provincial budgets? Feds have stayed around 1%... Provinces? essentially cut in half from 5%-3%.

@josie_osborne @mlabotterell @votetanille @emilylowan

4/n BC said in their PR yesterday.

"Public post-secondary institutions in B.C. are facing significant financial pressures, largely due to factors such as unilateral federal reductions to study permits for international students, global inflation and declining domestic enrolment.”

The first reason rings true.

but "global inflation" not really.

And “domestic enrolment” again, no. Even without international students, “demand” has risen.

@josie_osborne @mlabotterell @votetanille @emilylowan

5/n I want to keep most of this thread about students and their experience but I thought this chart was interesting showing that since 2001, the absolute number of teaching faculty in Canadian Universities has essentially stayed the same, while salaried non-faculty (like me) have grown a bit, but staff paid hourly -- ie. more precariously -- has grown substantially.

@josie_osborne @mlabotterell @votetanille @emilylowan

6/n Now lets get down to brass tacks. Who pays for Universities?

It's the Students... especially during this time of "Global Inflation”.

This chart is pretty damning. Since 2006, student fees exploded away from government funding in terms of the 'real change' in income to unis... more than doubling, whereas government has essentially stayed flat since 2006.

It is the same for Colleges.

Much of that student tuition was from International.

@josie_osborne @mlabotterell @votetanille @emilylowan

7/n It's because you're paying all those rich professors in their ivory towers more and more!

nope. As a percentage of their budgets, the wages to all types of staff and faculty have been essentially flat whether it's Academics, non-academics, or the benefits they receive.
@josie_osborne @mlabotterell @votetanille @emilylowan

8/n Government, on the other hand, chooses to spend less per student.

Every “Full Time Equivalent" domestic student is receiving about $2000 less support now from the government than at the peak in 2009.

Meanwhile, domestic tuition has nearly doubled from about $5000 (in 2025 dollars) in 1995 when I graduated high school, to $9000 today.

Has what students earn at their first job doubled? How about residence or a basement suite?

@josie_osborne @mlabotterell @votetanille @emilylowan

9/n I believe this chart to be the most damning of all.

It lays bare Canada and its province's reliance on exorbitant and exploitative international student tuitions to make up the gaps in government funding of our institutions.

The spread has gone from about 4x domestic tuition in 2006 to international students now paying on average 8x more than domestic students.

Does this align with Canadian values?
@josie_osborne @mlabotterell @votetanille @emilylowan

10/10 I'll end the thread there. You have the info now, you see the point.

The source of the crisis in post-secondary isn’t because of international visas, global inflation, or declining enrollment.

It is the predictable result of at least two decades of Canadian Federal and Provincial governments believing that funding post-secondary was not a priority... so they did other things.

The chickens have now come home to roost.

@josie_osborne @mlabotterell @votetanille @emilylowan

PS: I believe Post Secondary Education should be free for all Canadians.

International tuition should be reasonable and seats capped.

If, in this moment of upheaval, and soul searching by Government, a window opens where we could shrink the system enough to pay for the whole thing publicly, eliminating tuitions as many other G20 countries do, then I would happily fall on my sword to help make that happen because #EducationIsARight.

@josie_osborne @mlabotterell @votetanille @emilylowan