Quebec CEGEPs start new school year with money worries

Quebec’s network of 48 CEGEPs say they’re facing a combined $150 million shortfall after the Quebec government announced it would reduce their financing for the year 2025-2026 school year.

The Central des Syndicats du Quebec (CSQ) represents the majority of CEGEP teachers and support staff in the province and says the cuts will impact student services.

“The members of our unions are starting this new year with less help, less people to work with them,” said Eric Cyr, who represents the Federation of CEGEP teachers.

“As students are coming into CEGEPs with less services and those services are needed for many of them to succeed and get a diploma.”

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In the francophone system, the number of students is going up but they have fewer teachers and support staff.

“The employees that are left bear the brunt of those cuts. And we don’t want to go through that again,” Cyr said.

Anglophone CEGEPs are currently facing a hiring freeze, and a cap on admissions, yet there’s still a shortage of teachers in key subjects.

Nursing and computer science programs are chronically short-staffed, says the head of the federation of CEGEP teachers, Youri Blanchet, who says teachers would rather work in the private sector than in the underfunded public system.

There’s also a fear that a shortage of support staff will affect new students.

“We’re there to help professionals, but we’re also there to make contacts with the kids that are coming … when they arrive there, 17, 16, 18 [years old], they’re kind of young. They need support,” says the CSQ’s Valerie Fontaine.

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Higher Education Minister Pascal Déry posted a message on social media that the unions are not mentioning the 50 per cent increase in CEGEP financing since 2018, which is proportionately higher than the number of additional students.

But she does admit there are new challenges that can be overcome.

A spokesperson at Dawson College confirmed the administration shares the same concerns as the other CEGEPs with less than a week to go before the fall session starts.