Conestoga is a foreign student mecca. Is its climb to riches leading it off a cliff?

Conestoga College campus in Kitchener, Ont., Saturday, April 27, 2024. The main campus of Conestoga College has been experiencing an explosion of international students because of aggressive recruitment. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick IwanyshynThe smell of South Asian spices wafts from the "Blends and Curries" food counter.

And as the federal government seeks to stem international student flows with a two-year cap on study permits, even the immigration minister has singled the college out. At the student union office, more than a hundred students come in and out within an hour to grab a free snack — one of many programs Conestoga Students Inc. offers to help a growing number of food-insecure students.

But she said new hires need time to get up to speed, and in the meantime, staff are facing massive workloads as they process more students. Financial statements show the public college had a $106-million surplus for the 2022-23 year. That's up from just $2.5 million in 2014-2015.In a statement, the college defended its recruitment levels.

The individual stories of international students at Conestoga suggest many of them are experiencing hardship, at the same time as the college amasses a fortune. "A couple years ago, the condition was different. But now it is entirely changed. Mainly the job market," Powathu said, describing the plight of his unemployed peers. Several students with anxious faces described handing out resumes on a consistent basis since arriving to Canada last September, with no success. They said there's significant guilt in relying on their parents for support.

For decades, a cost-of-living financial requirement tied to student permits sat at $10,000 — an amount that significantly underestimates the amount students spend on basic housing and food. At Conestoga, this will mean a massive reduction. The Ontario government has allocated the public college just 15,000 permits out of its national share — less than half of what was approved the previous year.

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