Sudbury Catholic school board turns to international students to boost enrolment, revenue
One international student pays $12,500 in tuition a year to the school board
With student populations declining across most of northern Ontario, Catholic schools in Sudbury are turning to international students to fill their classrooms.
Recruiting international students has become a focus of the Sudbury Catholic School Board, according to board superintendent Terry Papineau.
"We have the same-sized buildings with fewer and fewer students in them," Papineau told CBC's northern Ontario afternoon program, Up North.
"Recruiting students from other countries helps us to put more students in our classrooms."
Currently, the Catholic board has one student from Japan attending St. Charles College in Sudbury, while two students — one each from China and Vietnam — are attending St. Benedict Catholic Secondary.
"In Canada, there's very good education here," the Grade 11 student said, adding he intends to go back to Vietnam for the summer to visit family, before returning in the fall to begin Grade 12.
Pham said his goals are to go to university and work in Canada.
International students can help expand programs — and the bottom line
Unlike exchange students, international students pay tuition roughly equal to the amount the province would fund an Ontario student, Papineau said.
For the Sudbury Catholic board, that works out to about $12,500 per year per student.
Attracting students from abroad can also provide a more diverse environment for kids already studying here, Papineau continued, adding that reaching out to other markets can foster programs like staff and student exchanges.
It's not in our culture to send students away-Board superintendent Terry Papineau
The Sudbury Catholic board started recruiting last year, Papineau said, with the three students currently studying in the northeast arriving in February.
"It's not in our culture to send students away," Papineau said.
"But in other countries ... it is part of their culture," he said. "We have not been taking advantage of that and we want to do so in the future."
With files from Jason Turnbull