A top draw

Iqbal Singh Sidhu

Canada has experienced a huge surge in its international student population in the recent years. According to the Canadian Bureau for International Education, there were 4,94,525 international students (at all levels) in Canada in 2017—  25 per cent of them were from India. Of the Indian students (1,23,630), most of them were at the undergraduate level. 

Studying in Canada is a costly venture for an international student.  The exchange rate between the rupee and the Canadian dollar is also not very favourable from an Indian student's viewpoint. There are many reasons which make the study-abroad dream more difficult. First, there is a big difference in the fee for domestic students and international students. In general, an international student shells out three times more fee than a local student for a basic degree. Second, h/she has to bear some additional university costs and then, costs to sustain oneself. Mind you, the cost of living is high in Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada stipulates that an international student enrolled in full-time studies is allowed to work 20 hours a week while the session is on and full-time during scheduled breaks, such as summer holidays or spring break. It is impossible for anyone to be able to sustain himself and pay for tuition fee by working 20 hours a week. In fact, the idea is absurd even from an arithmetic point of view.  

In many cases, students facing financial difficulties resort to borrowing funds to fulfil their immediate needs — with the idea that debt can be repaid once they graduate and start working full-time. An international student can avail of such debt through many ways — credit card, borrowings from money lenders (at exorbitant interest rates) and small-term, high-interest loans from local credit unions which demand some leverage, such as gold items or other valuables.

The central bank’s policy interest rate in Canada, like all other advanced economies, is not high — it is at 1.5 per cent as of now.  This means one can borrow funds from a bank at almost dreamlike rates as per Indian standards, but international students, being temporary residents, do not qualify for such loans or credit limits. Credit card interest rates can be upwards of 19.99 per cent per annum payable monthly and the rate can be even higher in case of a borrowing from a money lender. 

Though the official unemployment figures are low and the job market is booming as per the government, it is still exceptionally hard for international students to get a well-paying job in their field of study. Most of them end up getting low-skilled and low-paying jobs and the debt they have taken to fund their education in foreign land spirals at an alarming rate. Thus, they are caught in a borrow-and-spend cycle that results in ever-increasing loads. Despite such economic constraints, Canada still finds itself in the top 5 destinations among the students who want to study abroad due to its exceptional education system, better infrastructure, reputation as a tolerant and non-discriminatory society and low crime rate.