However, some K-12 programs are still struggling to find enough hosts to meet the demand for housing international students. During the pandemic, a number of families decided to stop hosting for health and safety reasons.
And in 2022, several international education programs were forced to stop accepting new students because they could not offer them a place to live.
The Nova Scotia International Student Program currently has 1,050 students, a similar number to last year.
“That’s down from pre-Covid,” says Mike Rosson, the executive director of the program. “The change is due to host family attrition and reduced capacity in our schools because of population growth, not the federal government’s policies. The demand for our program has never been stronger.”
“There has been no impact on our enrolments yet, but certainly the study permit cap isn’t having a positive impact on the reputation of Canada in our sector,” Rosson argues.
K-12 programs are currently exempted from the study permit cap, with one reason being that students live with hosts and therefore do not contribute to the housing crunch in many cities across the country.
In Kingston, Ontario, the Limestone District School Board has been able to coax some of those hosts back into the fold. “Our enrolments are up 20% this year,” says Bob Seitz, director of Limestone’s international program.
The change is due to host family attrition and reduced capacity in our schools because of population growth
Mike Rosson, Nova Scotia International Student Program
In fact, Limestone now has a student waiting list that it can’t clear because of a need for more hosts. The study permit limit confusion is not hurting the board, Seitz says. “So far, we are not seeing any negative effects from the post-secondary cap.”
At the Campbell River School District on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, small is beautiful. The board has just 67 international students.
“We are a small program and are intentionally maintaining enrolments at that level,” says Mercedes Hayduk, manager of international programs.
“More and more agencies are looking for smaller programs,” she says. “Because of our size, our international students find our schools to be welcoming and the Canadian students are keen to get to know our international students.”
Despite the limited number of international students, finding and keeping outstanding hosts remains a challenge, Hayduk says. “Our efforts are focused on host family retention and helping them to feel a part of our international program community.”