International students pay $3.5M in tuition to local school board

The number of international students recruited by the Thames Valley District School Board continues to climb but the board says the program is not a significant revenue-generator for the board.

The board has exceeded its targets for recruiting international students for the last two years and will do so again this September.

As demographics change and numbers of school-aged children in Canada dwindle, the London-area's largest public school board is ramping up efforts to recruit tuition-paying international students to come here.

Last year293 students most from Chinawere studying at TVDSB schools.

Their tuitionearned the board an extra $3.5 million in revenue.

School board spokesperson Richard Hoffman said this revenue is offset by $2-million in program costs.

So what about the extra $1.5-million?

In an email to CBC London, Hoffman said it "goes to cover other costs (school maintenance and operations costs, supplies and a myriad of school-based costs) that are so interwoven that they can't be easily broken out."

He said it would be "incorrect" to say the school board nets $1.5-million through the program.

"The actual number which, again is difficult to calculate, would be significantlysmaller than $1.5-million," he said. "So it would be correct to say that while the program doesn't contribute significantly to school board coffers, it isis not an expense to Ontario taxpayers."

The school board sends recruiters to sell the region to students. The board also works with education agents who, similar to travel agents, cater to the different needs of kids and parents.

"London is a different choice than Toronto or Vancouver. It's authentically Canadian," said Sarah Noad, the board's international business development officer.

She was hired in 2014 to woo more international students to study at TVDSB schools.

In two years, international student enrolment jumped by 78 per cent.

Tuition is 'revenue generator' for school board

Getting students to study here is big business, each high school student will pay tuition of $13,800 for a full year.

Elementary tuition is $12,500.

Most students start in Grade 10. Some stay for two to three years, others stay longer and go on to college or university in Canada, Noad said.

The tuition students pay is comparable to what the school board gets per pupil from the province. International students don't get provincial funding, so tuition makes up the cost, Noad said.

"It is revenue-generating," she said. "We're able to cover our costs and it allows us to reinvest in local students' international experience."

The school board last year launched the International Certificate Program, which sees students take courses with an international focus, learn an additional language and either go abroad on exchange or interact with international students.

Although most students who come to London to study stay with family or friends, a growing number are staying with homestay families.

Dori Brauer hosted a student from China for the last two years and this September will take in a girl from Spain.

She said her own family has benefited from the experience.

"So much of our world is becoming a 'them and us' and this really cut through some of that for my kids," Brauer said.

Brauer has two children, Maya, 8, and Jacob, 14.

"I'm hoping that as we meet other young people from other countries, I'm hoping that (openness) will magnify, and that it becomes more of who they are as people. I feel like that's been the biggest benefit, we have had an appreciation for somebody lives on the other side of the planet."