Canada’s universities are in crisis as money gets tighter |
The St. George campus of the University of Toronto, in November, 2025. U of T admitted 17,758 first-year students last year.Wa Lone/Reuters
Jonathan Malloy is the Bell chair in Canadian parliamentary democracy at Carleton University. He is co-editor of The Politics of Ontario.
A quick test: What university did your acquaintances and co-workers attend (if they went to university)? Unless they’re recent graduates or lifelong friends, there’s a good chance you don’t know. And the most likely guess is a local public university.
One of the unappreciated strengths of the Canadian postsecondary system is its high levels of both accessibility and equality. In most cases a person’s alma mater has no long-term significance, because it is not taken as a permanent indicator of their value and brilliance. In contrast, in the United States, if a person is a Harvard graduate, you’ll hear about it sooner or later.
Canadians largely take for granted that anyone in a medium-sized city can count on attending a solid and reputable local public university. There is no stigma to attending a “state school”; all major Canadian universities are public. Most Canadian students are commuters living at home, able to retain part-time jobs, and family and cultural networks. Tuition varies by program and province, but in most cases remains under $10,000 annually, balanced by significant scholarships and other funding. While not free, a Canadian university degree is a good bargain.
What is the value of higher education in Canada?
And yet it is not a system of equal mediocrity. Canadian universities successfully balance excellence........