Sault College is holding two town hall meetings today to discuss the “significant financial challenges” faced by the school.
In an email that was leaked to SooToday, President David Orazietti said the challenges are “driven by the ongoing underfunding of post-secondary education and, more recently, dramatic shifts in federal policy affecting international students.
“In 2023, we were allocated 3,530 international student permits. In 2024, that number has dropped to 1,293 – a 63% reduction.
“This has created a considerable gap in our budget, as international tuition has been a critical part of our financial model, contributing roughly $40 million annually.”
Over the past several months, the college has taken proactive steps to address the shortfall, Orazietti said in his message, including a hiring freeze, suspending certain programs, freezing administrative salaries, and offering retirement incentives.
“Throughout this process, we have been deliberate and careful – exploring every possible measure to reduce the financial impact while working hard to protect jobs. Our decisions have been guided by a deep sense of responsibility to our people, our students, and our community,” Orazietti said.
Despite these efforts, the financial pressure has required the college to make some difficult decisions.
“We have begun the process of reducing our workforce, starting with administrative positions. While painful, these reductions are necessary to protect the long-term sustainability of the College. We are doing everything we can to minimize the impact on student services and academic programming,” the email said.
SooToday reported last week that four employees were no longer with the college - Rich Peters, Matt Casola, Fang Wang, and Carla Casarin, due to cutbacks.
Those individuals worked primarily in international student recruitment.
"As part of a reduction in our administrative workforce in a strategic response to financial pressures caused by a decline in international student enrolment, there have been some changes to our administrative team," said the email from earlier this month, attributed to Orazietti, as well as Catia Longo and Sherri Smith.
In December, Sault College announced its most recent suspension of a number of programs, including:
- Advanced Project Management – Strategic Leadership
- Project Management
- Construction Project Management
- Global Business Management
- Gerontology
- Climate Change Mitigation
- Environmental Sustainability Analysis
The federal government's international student cap, announced in January, and reductions in post graduation work permits for international students have led to a lower number of international students at Sault College.
With files from Darren Taylor and Kenneth Armstrong