Jagjit Singh's smile faded, a first-year health sciences student, when asked about the cost of living in Canada since moving from India last year. Singh and his colleagues said that increasing financial pressures on international students are casting a shadow over the potential and opportunities of the new academic year. Singh also stated: "Some people think we came here to live a luxurious life, but that is not true," adding that many of his friends' parents have spent their savings on their children's education, and that rising rent and food costs, along with being far from home and loved ones, are pushing many international students to a breaking point. Additionally, students and social advocates say that international students bear a particularly heavy burden from rising inflation due to a series of exacerbating factors, rules limiting how much paid work they can do, and exchange rate issues. A food bank in Vancouver said three-quarters of registered students are from outside Canada.

Meanwhile, tuition fees rose about eight percent in 2022-23, increasing to an average of $36,123 per year for an international undergraduate student, which is slightly above the inflation rate of seven percent in August. Kashish Hoku Jani, 22, a fourth-year communication design student at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, said that living costs were high from the start and have now risen further. Jani said her family income became unstable during the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing them to dip into savings to pay her tuition fees of about $9,000 per semester. She added that she was working part-time, but limited working hours meant she could not keep up with rising costs, as foreign students who work more than 20 hours a week during study periods risk deportation, but she has now had to give up her part-time job to focus on her graduation project.

In the year preceding June, the Greater Vancouver Food Bank registered 7,725 new clients, including 1,844 students, according to Operations Manager Cynthia Poulter. The vast majority of these, 1,377, were international students. Poulter said that the 20-hour work limit was a common reason for international students seeking assistance, and that international exchange rates between Canada and other countries have placed more international students in a "more difficult position." For example, the Canadian dollar has risen about 25 percent against the Indian rupee in five years, despite falling about five percent since late August.