How college insurance programs are handling federal cuts to international students

Rear view of large group of students on a class at lecture hall. — iStock.com/skynesher

Canada has tightened its international student target numbers again for 2026. But how that’ll play out for college insurance programs varies across the board.

With the fall 2025 semester wrapping up and the winter 2026 semester quickly approaching, college insurance management program coordinators across Ontario are sharing mixed results when it comes to international student enrollment.

Announced in late 2024, federal cuts to immigration targets between 2025-27 — in addition to tightened eligibility requirements for international students’ post-graduate work permits — have stung college programs with large international student cohorts.

In 2026, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) expects to issue up to 408,000 study permits, including 155,000 to newly arriving international students, and 253,000 extensions for current and returning students. That’s 7% lower than the 2025 target and 16% lower than the 2024 target.

Insurance program coordinators at Ontario colleges shared with Canadian Underwriter how their enrollment numbers have been affected.

“We’ve seen reduced international enrollment in the program,” says John McNeil, associate dean of the insurance management program at Humber. “Whereas in the past, this program used to be a healthy split of about 60/40 or 50/50 international-domestic, it’s not the case anymore. Now the domestic student enrollment is much larger than the international student enrollment.”

McNeil says concerted efforts to bring domestic students into this program this year have allowed Humber to open its doors to students for the winter semester.

“Our fall enrollment is almost identical to what it was last year, and we weren’t even in a position to do a winter intake, but we are now.”

Jeff Shnier, professor and insurance program coordinator at Seneca Polytechnic, says fall enrollment for the program went down slightly. Like McNeil, he confirms fewer international students have enrolled, although domestic enrollment is up.

“Usually we have just over 100 students in the program at any one time, so about 50 in the first year, and 50 in the second year of the diploma. Now we have just over 70.”

Jorge Bettencourt, past coordinator and current professor of the Mohawk College Insurance program, says international enrollment is typically around 30% to 35%, with domestic enrollment making up the rest.

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Although he’s seen a drop in international enrollment, it hasn’t been as sharp as some of the GTA colleges, possibly due to a slightly different program structure and student demographics, he says.

How they’ve bounced back

Concerted efforts to bring domestic students into insurance programs have helped colleges maintain a healthy-sized cohort, professors say.

McNeil says Humber’s insurance program has had success bringing in domestic university students and career-changers whose industries aren’t hiring or who are between roles. “That has been a great pipeline for us,” he says.

To expand domestic interest, Humber’s relied on its partnerships with insurance companies. At recent recruitment events, they’ve had prominent Canadian P&C leaders and industry associations attend and connect with students. “We tried a kind of 360 [approach] — so, have an employer, have an association, and have alumni — and that has really worked out for us.”

Shnier says ramped up advertising campaigns helped Seneca’s insurance program boost domestic enrollment.

“Ten years ago, there was very little college advertising happening, but there’s certainly a lot more these days,” he says. “Last Saturday, we had an open house for the whole college, and there were actually more [people] interested in insurance than in the past, which is kind of surprising,” he says. He noted high school students typically don’t turn to insurance.

“Mostly our insurance people are kind of second-career, or they have insurance experience in other countries and they want that kind of certification here.”

At Mohawk, Bettencourt credits the unique program structure, which allows students to earn eight of 10 Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) credits, as one reason why students enroll in it from Hamilton and other local municipalities. He also says Hamilton has a high rate of its college students staying in the city when they enter the workforce.

“The vast majority of our graduates stay in the Hamilton-Niagara Halton Region,” he says. “We’ve seen that grow over the years. So, 10 years ago, you’d get more students going to work downtown Toronto or Mississauga; we’re seeing less of that.”

Supply and demand

The industry has already faced a shortage of young talent. Professors say hiring demand is high for insurance graduates.

Shnier says the job fairs he hosts for Seneca’s insurance students receives a lot of demand for student placements from companies.

“When you have 25 insurance companies coming in and 50 graduating students, each company is looking for more than one person,” he says. “For our first-year students [who do summer co-ops], that demand has been there,” he says.

“Just that instance alone shows there’s a lot of demand, let alone all the other postings that I receive regularly throughout the year.”

McNeil says the industry’s presence at student events shows its commitment to hiring the next generation of talent.

“One of the things that’s really great about this industry is that whenever it gets tapped to lean in to attract other good people, it never says no,” he says. “People will give up their lunch hours, they’ll give up their evenings, they’ll give up their afternoons to speak to a student or take part in a recruitment event…

“There aren’t too many other industries that are like that.”