Georgian College has announced it will consolidate its Orillia and Muskoka campuses into the Barrie Campus by fall 2026, following approval from the college’s Board of Governors.
The Orillia Campus is scheduled to close in summer 2026, with academic programs transitioning to the Barrie Campus starting in May. The Muskoka Campus in Bracebridge will officially close in August 2026.
College officials say the decision follows a comprehensive review of operational efficiencies, enrolment trends, labour-market demands, community impact, and the institution’s financial outlook.
“This is a difficult decision that we know will be felt deeply by our students, employees and communities,” said Kevin Weaver, President and CEO of Georgian College. “Recognizing these are challenging times and the sector is experiencing a labour disruption, I still felt it was important to advise our community of the decision. It’s the right decision for the long-term sustainability of the college and the success of our students.”
According to Georgian, there will be no impact on students’ graduation timelines or their ability to progress and complete their programs.
The consolidation is expected to generate approximately $23.5 million in savings over the next five years. As part of the transition, the Orillia Campus and its residence, along with the Muskoka Campus, will be sold.
Weaver emphasized that while the physical presence in Orillia and Muskoka will change, the college’s connection to the regions will not.
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In a time when we need people in the trades, it is unfortunate that our current provincial government would allow our colleges to be closing these campuses. This is all due to the tremendous cut backs that the Ford government has done to our public education sector, while he is pouring money into private institutions. “Since 2021, the Ford government has funneled $1.41 billion dollars into the Skills Development Fund (SDF), a provincial envelope that is supporting duplicate programs by private providers, instead of our colleges. These private programs are more expensive, with no onus to report on spending: no transparency, no accountability.” This was a quote from a news article. In case people are not aware, the Muskoka campus has been delivering excellent training programs for skilled trades and allowing local students to start enhancing their skills in the trades. Now they will have to travel to Barrie or Toronto. The Muskoka campus also has a personal support worker program which is another thing really needed in our communities with the expansion of Fairvern Nursing home. The current college is located in a building that was once the recreation centre for Bracebridge with the pool and I believe it was given to Georgian at a very reasonable cost. Does our local MPP not care enough about our community to start advocating for decent post secondary education in Muskoka. Although colleges have relied on foreign students for a lot of their funding over the past few years, this was basically to offset the cuts in government funding. When Georgian took over the Bracebridge site there were no foreign students and the campus was viable. Orillia also had viable programs before all of the government cuts without having foreign students. However, once again privatization will be the downfall of a once great education system in Canada and our taxpayer dollars will make some individuals very wealthy.