Canada’s major international student shift hit schools hard, but not enrollment totals. Postsecondary enrollment hit a new high in 2024/2025, according to Statistics Canada (StatCan) data. International enrollment made its sharpest drop in over 30 years, as widely expected. However, a surge in domestic enrollment almost entirely offset the drop.
Canadian Postsecondary Enrollment Growth Is Slow, But Still Growing
Canadian postsecondary enrollment.
Source: StatCan; Better Dwelling.
Canadian post-secondary enrollment hit a new record high of 2.35 million in 2024/2025, up 0.14% (+3.2k) from a year prior. This marks the slowest growth in 5 years, but it follows the sharpest uptick in 20 years—a 5.8% climb in the 2023 school year. For context, the growth in 2023 was so large that it accounts for 3 in 4 students added since the pandemic.
Enrollment growth is a little surprising considering the media blitz on cutbacks. However, breaking this data down by domestic and international enrollment provides some context.
Canada’s International Student Enrollment Just Made Its Sharpest Drop On Record
Annual growth rate for international student enrollment at Canadian postsecondary schools.
Source: StatCan; Better Dwelling.
International enrollment fell to 533,380 in 2024/2025, down 6.9% (-39.59k)—the sharpest drop in the agency’s data. Falling international enrollment is rare, with 2020/2021 being the only other in 25 years. Before that, there was a blip in the mid-90s, during Canada’s last major housing bubble.
Even with the historic drop, international enrollment remains 37.1% higher than pre-pandemic. The drop was largely in Ontario, which accounted for roughly 92% of the net declines.
Lost in the news has been a bright spot—domestic enrollment is making an aggressive climb.
Canada’s Domestic Postsecondary Enrollment Growth Hits A 14-Year High
Annual growth rate for domestic enrollment at Canadian postsecondary schools.
Source: StatCan; Better Dwelling.
Domestic enrollment hit 1.80 million in 2024/2025, up 2.1% (+37.6k) from a year prior. This was the highest enrollment for the segment since 2017 and a 14-year high for growth. The most surprising part? The surge was almost enough to offset the entire international decline.
There’s no immediate explanation for the abrupt climb, but it’s certainly a surprise. It was enough to almost eliminate the policy-driven drop. The data changes the narrative around the “hard hit” colleges.
The post-policy pain reflects a dependence on international enrollment growth, even as the total pushes to a new record high. Ontario’s disproportionate hit also follows a broader trend—young adults are leaving in droves.
Age demographics play a huge part in economics. The Millenials kids are starting to Enroll and they make up the next largest chunk of the population.
Huh, I guess that explains why it feels so much quieter on campus lately. Everyone was freaking out about the international student crisis, but domestic students just kept rolling in to fill the gaps. It’s a relief for tuition revenues obviously, but does this mask bigger issues with housing or course availability? Anyway, nice data.
Wow, that 14-year high growth rate is interesting. Seems like people are staying home more now that the immigration policy changes took effect. Good for local economies but I’m curious how this will affect international programs next year.
So I’m reading this and thinking, wait, why did we always blame international students for everything? Turns out domestic folks are finally signing up again in big numbers. It’s a bit of a shame really, because Ontario took the biggest hit from the international drop when they could have just filled those seats with locals who need it more than ever.
Who’s going to jail for this because it was a crime to make the economy revolve around temporary students at schools that popped up overnight.
I’ve been following this issue for a while and this article confirms what many suspected all along. The reliance on international students was probably a crutch we needed to kick sooner rather than later. It is frustrating that the drop happened mostly in Ontario specifically, since that province has so much of its education ecosystem tied up with these foreign visitors anyway.