Fewer international students enrolled in Lower Mainland public schools

Fewer students from abroad are attending public schools in two of B.C.’s biggest school districts.

Inflation and economic uncertainty are playing a role, as is the ability of schools, particularly secondary schools, to accommodate foreign students when the schools are close to or over capacity.

But perhaps the biggest influence has been the cap introduced by the federal government to restrict the number of post-secondary students coming to Canada to study.

In Vancouver, international student enrolment decreased by almost 200 students between the 2024-25 year and the 2025-26 year. The Vancouver school board says enrolment has dropped, especially among prospective students from China, South Korea and Vietnam.

In Surrey, that year-to-year drop was 7.5 per cent. The Surrey School Board, too, cites a reduction in students from the same Asian countries, as well as Italy and Spain. However, enrolment among students from Germany, Japan and Taiwan remains strong.

Board chair Gary Tymoschuk says he’s not surprised about the drop, because many students use the K-12 system as a jumping-off point to get into the post-secondary system.

“As those students look ahead, if Canada is putting a cap on post-secondary seats, then that’s going to limit their options,” said Tymochuk.

The trend comes as his school district deals with a unique problem – dropping enrollment in general. For the past decade, the district has had to accommodate at least a thousand new students every year. However, the number of students enrolled in Surrey this year declined by close to 900 students.

“Fewer number of students that we get into the system, whether they are Canadian citizens or foreign students, does have a financial impact on our system,” he said.

International students pay tuition to attend public school in Canada. In Vancouver, they pay $17,000 a year. In Surrey, it’s $16,700.

Local students are funded by the province at roughly $9,000 per pupil per year, although there are additional grants valued at $13,000 per year.

Provincewide, international student enrolment in public schools continues to climb.

In the 2023-2024 school year, 11,658 foreign students were enrolled. That increased to 12,174 last year, and is up to 12,963 this year.

Tracy Loffler, the president of the BC School Trustees Association, says there are areas of B.C. seeing an increase in foreign students.

“It varies by district. We’ve got different factors at play, like geography, housing costs, program offerings, and broader trends in international student immigration,” said Loffler.