McGill and Concordia drop legal fight over Quebec’s out-of-province tuition hikes

Montreal’s two largest English-language universities are abandoning their legal battles against the Quebec government’s out-of-province tuition hikes, citing financial strain and a desire to repair their relationship with the province.

The move follows an April ruling by Quebec Superior Court Justice Éric Dufour, who struck down parts of the government’s 2023 tuition overhaul — including a French-language requirement — but allowed a 33 per cent increase for out-of-province Canadian students to remain in effect while the province revises its policy.

Concordia and McGill universities had launched separate lawsuits in early 2024, arguing the hikes were discriminatory and threatened their financial viability.

“We will not be taking this to court again given our financial situation,” said Concordia spokesperson Vannina Maestracci on Friday.

Maestracci detailed a “projected deficit of $84 million for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which we must limit to $31.1 million according to our recovery plan.”

While Maestracci maintained that the 2023 measures “harm the competitiveness of Quebec universities,” she expressed hope that the school could work productively with the government moving forward.

McGill University backs down as well

McGill University spokesperson Katherine Cuplinskas said further legal action would undermine McGill’s goal of “strengthening local engagement.”

“McGill will continue to work with the government of Quebec to ensure predictability, stability and transparency in the rules governing higher education,” she wrote in an email. 

“McGill remains strongly committed to investing in scholarships and student aid and to ensuring that students have access to the resources, guidance and financial support they need to succeed in their studies.”

The dispute began when the Coalition Avenir Québec government raised undergraduate tuition for out-of-province Canadian students to $12,000 and imposed new French-language proficiency requirements. 

Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry has said Quebecers had no obligation to subsidize the education of students from the rest of Canada. Premier François Legault has said those students were coming to Montreal and contributing to the decline of French in the city.

Both universities had reported significant drops in out-of-province applications since the policies were announced. 

Concordia reported a 27 per cent decline in applicants from the rest of Canada and a 12 per cent decline in the number of students coming from abroad in 2024. Also in 2024, McGill announced it was seeing a 20 per cent drop in out-of-province applicants.

Ruling was partial victory for universities

In his 82-page decision last year, Dufour awarded McGill and Concordia universities a partial victory.

He invalidated changes that the Higher Education Ministry made to its budgetary rules. Those changes raised tuition fees for out-of-province students by 33 per cent and said 80 per cent of them needed to learn French by graduation.

The changes also affected international students, setting their minimum tuition fees at about $20,000.

In June, the Quebec government announced it would not appeal the decision. Déry said the court found fault with the rationale for the increases — not the increases themselves — and vowed to stay the course on those increases.

In his ruling, Dufour gave the government a nine-month timeline to revise the fee structure, but maintained the tuition increase for that time frame.

He also threw out the province’s requirement to have 80 per cent of out-of-province undergraduate students at English-language universities reach an intermediate level of proficiency in French by graduation, calling the expectation “unreasonable given the near-certain impossibility of achievement.”

Déry’s office vowed to rework the rules and find another rationale for the 33 per cent tuition hike, noting the ruling recognizes the government’s right to take steps to protect French. 

Then earlier this year, Quebec announced it is keeping the tuition increase for non‑francophone students from outside the province, saying its revised university funding policy complies with the Superior Court ruling, according to The Gazette.

Cuplinskas said McGill University believes the Quebec government is not respecting the court ruling, but won’t fight the decision.