New York Times exposes Canada's Foreign Student scam

It can’t be a secret anymore if the New York Times is writing about it. Many Canadian post-secondary institutions have become de-facto fast-tracks to Canadian residency and the prospect of citizenship. That’s because chronic government under-funding has made colleges and universities dependent on the extortionate fees they charge foreign students. Schools like Northern College hire agents to recruit foreign students. These agents scour the Indian countryside looking for prospective students willing and able to fork over the tens of thousands of dollars required for a diploma in “culinary arts” or “early childhood education,” which qualify the graduates to work in two of the lowest paying occupations in Canada. The recruiters work on commission. What they’re selling isn’t education, but access to a student visa, and hence to Canada. There are hundreds of thousands of student visas issued every year, and all those foreign students need somewhere to live in a country with a chronic and ever-worsening housing affordability crisis. Nobody’s getting much of an education, but the colleges get to stay in business, the recruiters can get rich, and the students get a back door to Canadian residency! What’s not to like?