Projecting a $1.4M deficit after a decade of surpluses, college hopes to ‘re-home’ affected faculty in other programs Cambrian College is indefinitely suspending new intake into 10 of its programs, mostly due to reductions in international student enrolment at the college as a result of federal policy changes over the past year. Other colleges across Ontario have also suspended programs recently for the same reason, with some much harder hit than Cambrian. International students have been seen as a ready source of cash in the post-secondary sector, as they are charged higher tuition fees than domestic students. After their numbers exploded in recent years, causing issues that include pressures on housing, the federal government started putting in place rules in 2024 to reduce their numbers. The program suspensions were approved at the April 30 meeting of Cambrian’s board of governors, during which time they also approved the college’s 2025-2026 budget, with a projected $1.4 million deficit, its first deficit budget in around a decade. The 2025-2026 budget reflects revenue of $116.8 million, a decrease of $40.1 million from the previous year. Of that $40.1 million, the decrease in international student tuition accounts for a full $16 million. Seven full-time faculty are affected by the program suspensions, but Cambrian is working to see if these faculty can be reassigned to other programs. The affected programs are Global Business Management, Human Resources Management, Hospitality - Hotel and Restaurant, Mobile Application Development, Project Management, Public Relations, Tourism, Early Childhood Educator Administration, General Arts and Science - Indigenous Specialization and Protection, Security and Investigation. With a few exceptions, most of these programs had previously had strong international student enrolment, but interest has dropped off because under new federal rules, they are not on the list of programs for which graduating students can get a post-graduation work permit. Students currently enrolled in these programs will be allowed to finish them. “So they will graduate with their credential,” said Cambrian vice-president, academic Janice Clarke during the meeting. The college has also reduced its workforce by 22 FTE (full-time equivalent) positions through attrition and has also decreased spending in other areas, including areas associated with international students, IT costs, special events and travel. “We're really proud of the fact that we were able to reduce our full-time positions by 22 positions without incurring any layoffs,” said Cambrian president Kristine Morrissey. “We used things like retirement incentives, not replacing vacancies, and just using attrition to evolve to that. And then we looked at all kinds of other ways to reduce our expenses. And so with the $1.4 million deficit budget, we have not incurred layoffs to achieve that result.” Cambrian said it is showing strong domestic enrolment, but its international enrolment has been hard hit by federal policy changes. Last June, Cambrian’s audited 2023-2024 financial statements showed a $41-million surplus, but with the changes surrounding international students, Morrissey warned it would be the “last good year.” Cambrian’s projected 2025-2026 deficit will be covered by its reserves, which Morrissey said stands at a little more than $80 million, between capital and operating. “For the last 10 years, the surpluses that we've been generating, we've been putting away and saving for a rainy day,” said Morrissey. “We've been able to use some of them to invest back in capital in our infrastructure and our deferred maintenance, and then we've also been setting aside money for stabilization, and for a rainy day, and it's starting to rain across the sector.” The audited financial statements for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, which ended March 31, will come out in June, but Morrissey said Cambrian is on track to post a surplus. Following the meeting, Sudbury.com reached out to OPSEU Local 655 president Neil Shyminsky, who represents Cambrian College faculty. “Our main concern, of course, is ensuring that none of our faculty are laid off,” he said. “So there's a very robust, very detailed process for having a joint meeting of faculty and administration to try and re-home faculty somewhere else in the college, and we're going to follow that process, and at least at this point in time, I think we're pretty optimistic that we can get through this without anybody losing their job.” He said this situation has come about because “clearly Ford government thought international students are taking care of the funding for us,” and the post-secondary sector needs to be properly funded. Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.