Should Rising Enrollment Numbers Raise Concern?

Full-time enrollment at Canadian universities has jumped by 326,000 in the past 15 years.

Students are applying to university in record numbers. That’s the good news.

However, some experts worry that increased enrollments and applications will put additional strain on university funding that’s already spread too thin.

Bonnie Patterson, the president and CEO of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, recently expressed that the spike in applications is a good thing, but it’s important that government funding follows suit so Canada doesn’t reduce the quality of the student experience.

Universities across Canada have been seeing a massive influx of enrollment over the past few years. The demand for university education in the Canadian labour force and immigration patterns have caused a record number of students to think about earning a degree. Enrolment has been particularly high in Ontario since 2003, the year the province eliminated the Ontario Academic Credit (OAC).

According to the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, full-time enrollment at Canadian universities has jumped by 326,000 in the past 15 years, an increase of 57 per cent.

As of now, approximately 755,000 of Canada’s 898,000 university students are undergraduates. This also means there will be more stress put on grad schools in the next few years, as they also see an application and enrollment boom.