Officials at the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus said the school reported a 27% jump in graduate applications as of March 1 from US citizens for programmes starting in the 2025 academic year, compared to all of 2024.
In response to rising demand for graduate-level programmes, UBC Vancouver briefly reopened admissions to US citizens for several graduate programmes this week with plans to fast-track applications from American students hoping to begin studies in September.
University of Toronto, Canada’s largest university by number of students, also reported more US applications by its January deadline for 2025 programmes, while a University of Waterloo spokesperson reported an increase in US visitors to campus and more web traffic originating from the US since September.
The universities in Toronto and Waterloo did not cite the reasons for the increase in interest, while the UBC’s Vancouver campus attributed the rise to the Trump administration’s policies.
The administration has frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for numerous universities, pressing them to make policy changes and citing what it says is a failure to fight antisemitism on campus.
It has begun deportation proceedings against some detained foreign students who took part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, while visas for hundreds of other students have been cancelled – actions that have raised concerns about speech and academic freedoms in the US.
At the same time, Canada has capped the number of international students allowed to enter the country for the second year in a row, meaning there may be fewer spots for US and other international students.
Canada’s immigration ministry said it expects learning institutions to only accept the number of students they can support, including providing housing options. Provinces and territories are responsible for distributing spaces under the cap, the ministry said.
US crackdown
Gage Averill, UBC Vancouver’s provost and vice president of academics, attributed the spike in US applications to the Trump administration abruptly revoking visas of foreign students and increased scrutiny of their social media activity.
“That, as a result, and especially as a result of the very recent crackdown on visas in the US for international students, and now the development of a centre that’s reading foreign students’ social media accounts,” Averill said.
The University of Toronto, considered an alternative to US Ivy League schools, is seeing a “meaningful increase” in applications from those living or studying in the US over previous years, the university said in a statement.
University of Waterloo, which is known for its technical graduate programmes and churns out top-notch engineering talent, said some faculties including engineering have seen increased interest and applications from students in the US.
“We have seen an increase in US visitors to the UW Visitors Centre on campus, and web traffic that originates in the US has increased by 15% since September 2024,” a University of Waterloo spokesperson said.
It did not specify whether these students were foreign students studying in the US or American citizens.
Averill said UBC has seen only a modest 2% increase in undergraduate applications for this year’s programmes, which closed around the time of Trump’s inauguration. However, interest appears to be growing, with campus tour requests from US students up by 20%.
“We were concerned about the United States universities, our sister institutions in the US, who are under enormous pressure right now,” said Averill, referring in particular to the Trump administration’s efforts to withhold funds from universities that continue with diversity and equity initiatives or study climate science.
According to UBC’s annual report, the US ranks as one of the top three countries for international student enrollment. Currently, about 1,500 US students are enrolled in both graduate and undergraduate programmes at the university’s two campuses.