Although it’s been over 4 months since that fateful election night where Donald Trump was elected as POTUS, there are going to be repercussions for quite some time. A major implication of Donald Trump being elected as president is an increase in applications to Canadian colleges and universities.
At U of T, American applications increased 70% in December 2016 compared to stats from 2015. Applications to McMaster from the US have increased at least 34% and other schools in Canada have seen increases of around 20%.
So, why exactly is this happening?
For one, students are worried about the safety of college campuses in America, fearing that Trump’s administration will “ease enforcement of federal rules against sexual assault, making campuses less safe for women.”
Students from overseas are also looking to apply to Canadian universities, especially after the US travel ban was put into place. Although it is no longer in effect, many foreigners are anxious to attend school in America as they may end up being stuck there, unable to see their families abroad. When the travel ban was announced, McGill and Brock University took action and extended their application deadlines for foreign students in order to accommodate students who may not have been able to study in the US.
I am an American citizen myself, and I understand why American students and students from all over the world are hesitant to attend school in the states. When I was applying to schools in Canada, my friends and classmates thought that I was crazy and didn’t understand why I would want to study anywhere other than America. And while I did it because of my dual citizenship and not because of the state of the political environment, many students are now seriously considering schooling in Canada, even those who don’t have Canadian citizenship. A lot of people have joked on Twitter about moving to Canada following the election, but there are also a lot of people who aren’t joking around.
We won’t truly know the extent to which Trump’s presidency has affected enrolment in Canadian colleges and universities until students have made their final decisions, but I think it’s safe to say that there will be a lot of people looking outside of the United States for their higher education.