Not Your Cash Cow, Not Your Scapegoat

International students have long been seen as cash cows by Canadian universities, a revenue stream of high tuition fees for the same education received by lower-paying domestic students. While in the past their inclusion has been lauded as "recruiting global talent" to Canada, more recently these students have been blamed for social issues from housing shortages to spreading disease -- various reductive framings that instrumentalize student migrants for political purposes. Meanwhile, student migrants are often surprised to face isolation, poverty and racism, and disappointed by lacklustre university services meant to help them navigate life in Canada.