When Julie Emeid got home after a long day on campus, she was often bracing herself for the next one. During her third year, the Toronto Metropolitan University social work student would wake up at 5 a.m. to make her 8:30 a.m. class at the downtown campus. With her return trip, Emeid could spend up to two hours commuting to her parents’ homes in Vaughan and Mississauga—cities that are part of the sprawling Greater Toronto Area. She relied on public transit and an accessible vehicle to accommodate the wheelchair she uses. But no matter the form of transportation, once home at night, Emeid says, she couldn’t avoid the calculus of how to spend what little energy she had left, often having to decide between eating, sleeping, and homework.
When Emeid was accepted into her program in 2021, living on campus was not an option she really considered. At the university, accommodation can cost up to $14,500 for an academic year. She had to choose: Pay for housing and lose money? Or live at home and lose time? The lingering risk of being exposed to COVID-19 further cemented her decision to stay home. By the end of her third year, though, the toll of commuting was catching up with her.
For those who pursue post-secondary education, living on campus has long been a rite of passage. But student residences aren’t cheap, and waiting lists are longer than ever as universities and colleges have increased enrolment numbers but failed to keep up with housing demand. Many students have been forced to choose between the cut-throat off-campus rental market (in Toronto, a room in a house or apartment could cost as much as $1,500) and living at home and commuting for hours every day. In the process, the campus, once seen as a place to comfortably linger after class and where students could form lasting bonds, is becoming more of a transient and impersonal space. Canadian post-secondary institutions are rushing to keep up with demand. But is it too late?
A 2023 report by Bonard, a Vienna-based market research firm, found that Canada lags significantly behind the United States and several European countries in terms of the availability of accommodation specifically built for students. In 2022, there were about 10,000 beds under construction, with 8,000 more in development. But according to Bonard, at many Canadian universities, residence beds were available only for 10.3 percent of the student population, falling short of the needs of student renters across the country.
Universities and colleges “have been largely left on their own” when it comes to housing, says Michael Jodah, co–executive director of HOUSE Canada, an organization that advocates for and develops non-profit student housing co-operatives and other affordable accommodations. According to a report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, government funding made up 82.7 percent of Canadian universities’ operating revenues in 1982, but it fell to 54.9 percent in 2012. In the meantime, many universities and colleges have sought to make up for this funding gap by increasing the enrolment numbers for international students, who pay significantly higher tuition fees than their domestic counterparts. This, in turn, has increased the demand for housing.
The number of post-secondary international students in Canada has more than doubled, from 142,200 in 2010 to 388,800 in 2019. The federal government recently announced a cap on international student permits as one way of managing rental demand. But some critics say governments need to focus on increasing the supply of student housing instead.
For domestic and international students alike, the limited availability of on-campus housing means that they are more likely to lose out on the social and academic benefits that many people expect from post-secondary life. A 2017 Academica Group study of first-year students across five Canadian universities, for example, found that living on campus has a positive impact on students’ grades, retention to the second year, and, eventually, graduation rates. These findings suggest that living in a residence lets students learn more holistically through day-to-day interactions while allowing them to access important support through a community of peers. Without alternatives, some students are turning to crowded and unsafe living conditions, with as many as twelve people in one unit, according to a recent Global News story.
And that’s not to mention the toll of commuting on students who live off campus. A 2019 study on students in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area by StudentMoveTO found that 30 percent of university and college students spend more than two hours a day commuting to and from campus. Sixty percent of those students said that their commute discouraged them from participating in campus activities, while 31 percent described their commute as an obstacle to academic success.
“If you’re commuting more than two hours or working multiple jobs,” says Jodah, “you don’t have time for student life and the university experience.”
As the housing shortage persists, the post-secondary sector is looking for new ideas to increase supply. Recent funding announcements from federal and provincial governments have given some reason for optimism. In 2024, the federal government began allowing developers and post-secondary schools to apply for low-interest loans to build student housing on and off campuses, drawing from a more than $40 billion loan program.
Last February, the Nova Scotia government put forward a one-year funding agreement for universities in the province—which included a requirement that those in Halifax and Cape Breton create more student housing. The government is also holding back 10 percent of the funding allocated to Dalhousie University and Cape Breton University until those institutions develop plans to house at least 15 percent of their full-time students.
While Jodah says these moves represent a good step forward, more is needed to address growing student demand. Jodah points to the example of the British Columbia government, which, in 2018, began allowing post-secondary institutions to borrow money directly from the provincial government through a student housing fund. Since then, BC has committed additional money to building 12,000 on-campus beds by 2028.
The University of British Columbia aims to increase the number of beds available to its students from nearly 14,000 to 17,300, as outlined in its updated 2023 Housing Action Plan. High costs of building supplies and labour shortages in the construction sector have likely contributed to UBC’s decision to pursue new types of housing, such as nano suites—140-square-foot rooms with a convertible bed desk, a kitchenette, and a bathroom—which cost just over $800 per month. But with only seventy-one such units currently available, the suites still represent a modest step toward solving the larger supply crisis.
As for TMU, it increased short-term accommodations by opening a commuter hostel in 2015. Located in one of TMU’s residences, the hostel welcomes those who live far from campus and want to stay overnight before an early exam or after a late-night study session. A stay costs $35 a night for one person and $45 for pairs open to sharing. But with only nine rooms, the supply is once again limited.
Now in the final year of her program, Emeid says she’s feeling less of the isolation that marked her earlier years at university. She’s reduced her course load, and she has time to work at the university’s Tri-Mentoring Program, supporting other students navigating university life. She served as the accessibility lead at her student union, where she led advocacy efforts on accessibility issues on campus. She has slowly formed her own community—of students similarly drawn to making university life better. The reduced risk of a COVID-19 infection has helped too.
These days, when Emeid finds herself on campus, she says, she is more likely to run into friends and colleagues. She says this brings her a sense of belonging that was previously absent: “People knowing who I am and having them acknowledge me is huge.”
