Editorial: Foreign student cap is not right for N.B.

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We learned this week that, on international students, the province is wisely keeping cuts proportionate to what existed before, with a small edge to the largest schools.

Post-secondary Education, Training and Labour deputy minister Dan Mills says the 35 per cent federal cut of all immigration leaves our universities, community colleges and private colleges to share 5,580 seats for foreign students.

Ottawa’s decision to include foreign students was poorly conceived, as this is unlikely to achieve its goal of easing the national affordable housing crisis. International students ought to be exempted, which is the easiest fix to a potentially damaging situation for our universities.

The feds allocated us 5,580 spots, but also limited us to sending out no more than 9,300 acceptance letters, based on an assumption 60 per cent of such letters would result in students showing up. In New Brunswick only 30-40 per cent show up, Mills told a legislature committee in February. Thus we can realistically expect to fall short.

Limiting general immigration straining affordable housing is a more reasonable argument. Meanwhile, many foreign students are from rich families. They pay full tuition, more than double what subsidized Canadians pay, helping universities to keep afloat in tight budgetary times. The students either stay in residences or pay ‘unaffordable’ high rents, depriving nobody.

Many also stay in Canada, trained in high-paying professional jobs suffering shortages, including health-care positions, providing us with trained professionals of which we have serious need. Limiting them worsens, rather than helps to solve, our biggest issues.