Conestoga College is cutting deep. In its latest attempt to shrink, the school just offered voluntary exit packages to 373 full-time faculty members. That is more than half of its permanent staff. Librarians, counsellors, even health and safety trainers were told the details in a memo. The message was clear. Entire programs are on the line because enrollment is collapsing.
The target is not just random cost-cutting. The school openly admitted that the incentives are aimed at departments most at risk of being shut down. Areas that once looked secure are now flagged as “non-essential” in a shrinking institution. For years, Conestoga relied heavily on international students to fill seats and balance budgets. Now that stream has dried up, the business model is cracking wide open.
This is not an isolated problem. Ontario’s entire college system has become addicted to international tuition. It kept the lights on while domestic enrollment flatlined. But when rules tightened and students stopped coming, the numbers no longer worked. The reality is simple. Without a steady flow of international money, colleges like Conestoga cannot sustain their current size.
Apparently, Ontario’s college system is quietly bleeding out.
Conestoga just offered exit packages to half its full-time faculty—373 people because international enrollment collapsed.
Counsellors, librarians, even health & safety training are on the chopping block.
This isn’t… pic.twitter.com/ecidc9WYII
— Shazi (@ShaziGoalie) September 26, 2025
Calling this “restructuring” is a polite fiction. You do not cut half your faculty if you are just reorganizing. This is an existential crisis. Once counsellors and support staff are gone, student services collapse. Once librarians and training programs are gone, the academic core erodes. Students who remain will pay the price in weaker programs, fewer resources, and a gutted campus life.
The silence around it is deafening. A few memos, some quiet offers, and no real public debate. Yet thousands of careers and entire communities depend on these colleges. When half the faculty is pushed toward the exit, it sends a message.
