Conestoga College reports a $121M surplus

CTV News

3 days ago

Conestoga College is reporting a huge financial surplus. But, as CTV's Karis Mapp explains, it's almost half of what the school had the previous year.
Conestoga College is reporting a huge financial surplus. But, as CTV's Karis Mapp explains, it's almost half of what the school had the previous year.
Conestoga College is reporting a huge surplus, but that's far from good news for the Kitchener school.
Colleges across Ontario were required to publicly release the data by 11:59 p.m. on July 31.
While Conestoga College made the deadline, it was the last school in the province to do so.
The report showed that in its most recent fiscal year, ending March 31, the school's surplus topped $121 million – a huge drop from the $252 million surplus they posted the previous year.
Conestoga College said its revenue from tuition dropped to $563 million, $119 million less than it reported in 2024.
The school also said it spent $436 million on salaries and benefits, an increase of $37 million from the year before.
Seeking answers
CTV News asked Conestoga College for an in-person interview, but the school said no one was available to comment on the surplus.
In fact, CTV News has repeatedly reached out to Conestoga College for interviews on international student enrolment, as well as its financial and community impact. Each time, the school claimed no one was available.
John Tibbits, the president of the college, has not agreed to any interview requests from CTV News since 2023. The school has only responded with written statements, sent by email, none of which have been attributed to Tibbits.
According to the Ontario Sunshine List, Tibbits' salary soared alongside the increase in international student enrolment. In 2022, he earned $409,900 as the school's president. The following year it rose 20.7 per cent to $494,716.
Tibbits' salary for 2024 was listed on the Ontario Sunshine List as $636,107. That was a year-over-year increase of 28.6 per cent. It also made Tibbits the highest-paid public sector worker in Waterloo Region. He earned more than the presidents of Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Waterloo and the University of Guelph.
The school's board of governors has extended Tibbits' contact until Aug. 31, 2025. He has been Conestoga College's president since 1987.
Conestoga College's statement
Conestoga College responded to CTV News' request for an interview with a statement sent, as per usual, by email.
In it, the school blamed federal caps and changes to the international student program for 'significantly reduced' enrolment. They said it 'placed financial pressure on institutions across the province that rely on this revenue to support core programs and services.'
They also cited what they called 'Canada's rapidly declining popularity as an international education destination.'
'No Ontario college has been able to achieve its allotted international enrolment,' the statement read. 'Most colleges have seen a reduction of 60-70 per cent. Conestoga expects a loss of approximately 20,000 international student enrolments for the fall 2025 term compared to the fall of 2023. This equates to a loss of approximately $450 million in revenue over the last two years.'
The federal government announced in early 2024 it was slashing study permits for international students and Ontario's allotment was reduced by almost half. Schools were told applications could not exceed 2023 permit levels, and international permits must be less than 55 per cent of the school's first-year domestic enrolment.
The province specifically called out Conestoga College, stating it would see the 'largest decline.' That was not surprising, since the school had one of the largest international student populations in the province.
The college said its surplus, for the fiscal year ending March 31, was 'the result of careful planning and responsible financial management while balancing the impact of reduced international enrolment.'
They added: 'This was not without its challenges, and we continue to navigate the biggest financial crisis in the history of the Ontario public post-secondary education system.'
In a report, sent to students and staff on July 28, Conestoga College said 8,584 international students were enrolled in its 2025 spring semester. That marked a 62 per cent drop from the year before, when it totaled 22,633.
Domestic student enrolment, however, rose 28 per cent to 3,498 during the spring semester.
In the statement sent to CTV News, the school said they have 'taken steps to grow domestic enrolment by maintaining existing academic programming where possible, developing new programs that meet workforce needs, and strategically investing in building infrastructure, equipment and student support services.'
Conestoga College also touted its renewed focus.
'Our investments have enabled the college to be one of the fastest-growing in domestic enrolment in the last year, seeing a three per cent increase in winter 2025 enrolment, a 7.5 per cent increase in the spring, and fall confirmations are up by almost 15 per cent,' they wrote.
Tough decisions also had to be made, they explained, to address a projected fiscal deficit for 2025-2026.
'Through decisive action to reduce labour and operational costs, we will address these financial pressures and position the college for a stable and sustainable future,' they promised.
The school previously offered early retirement packages to some employees, while others were laid off. Earlier this month, the college announced several of its senior administrators were no longer employed at the school.
Cuts have also been made to programs, as well as campus consolidations in Kitchener and Brantford.
Despite the projected fiscal deficit, Conestoga College said it is investing in its future.
'The college plans to invest $145 million in capital projects that include phase two of the Conestoga Skilled Trades Campus in Cambridge, phase two of the Waterloo campus renovation, renovations of the Tollgate Technological Skills Centre in Brantford to expand skilled trades programming and Doon campus renovations to accommodate new programming such as the animal care suite of programs,' the statement said.
One project, however, has stalled.
The college confirmed to CTV News it had paused work at its satellite campus in Guelph. The school purchased the building, at 130 Macdonell Street, in 2023. Conestoga College said plans for what comes next will be decided when 'student enrolment allows.'
Reaction to surplus
Vikki Poirier is the president of OPSEU Local 238, which represents full-time and part-time support staff at the college.
She said the school's response is concerning.
'I don't see this as being rightsizing, or an international student issue,' Porier told CTV News. 'This is about deliberate underfunding and bad management choices.'
She also questioned the school's focus on growth.
'Why are we not investing in our workforce? Our real resources of support staff and faculty, rather than brick and mortar.'
Michael Harris is a regional councillor who has been critical of the college's large surplus, as well as the international student boom and its impact on regional services and planning.
He shared his concerns with CTV News prior to the report's release.
'There was a tuition freeze happening provincially and colleges, frankly, exploited the monetary gain from international students,' Harris said.
Poirier felt the school should have seen a change coming.
'I'm not going to say that we didn't need our international students, or we shouldn't have them, but this was only going to last for so long,' she explained. 'We were so saturated.'
Poirier was also skeptical of the college's next steps.
'We haven't really received the full snapshot of what the erosion is,' she said. 'We saw a pretty picture that was sent out in a graph form, but we don't have the nitty gritty.'
Harris, meanwhile, was cautiously optimistic about what lies ahead for the school and Waterloo Region.
'We'll continue to hopefully have that dialog with the college in terms of where they're going,' he said. 'But there's no doubt been a strain on regional resources over the last little while.'