Canada risks losing its international students if the restriction keeping them from working off-campus is preserved, according to a study released Tuesday morning.

Six out of 10 foreign students choose Canada as the top destination for their post-secondary schooling, but rising tuition costs and insufficient employment may keep them from coming to Canada, The Canadian Bureau for International Education warns.

"Canada has had some success in recruiting international students over the past five years," Jim Fox, CBIE President said in a statement. "But it's a competitive world. We've slipped from fifth to ninth position among host countries for university students from abroad."

The CBIE study was released Tuesday in Ottawa.

So far Manitoba, New Brunswick and Quebec - excluding Montreal and Quebec City - have initiated projects allowing foreign students to work off-campus, but full-time foreign students elsewhere in Canada are forbidden from working off-campus.

Being limited to on-campus work is disheartening, says Marta Dolecki, who came to Toronto from France to study journalism at Ryerson University a few years ago.

"There is an assumption that international students come from rich families and therefore they don't need to work, but it's not always the case, as some come from middle class families, like myself," Dolecki says.

She says she had several job offers but she had to refuse them.

She says it feels like foreign students are being told, "Come here, spend a lot of money for your education, but you cannot work."

Dolecki says, "It's almost like the system is sucking money out of you and giving you nothing in exchange."

There are about 155,000 foreign students in Canada according to the CBIE.

The study is based on almost 1,700 respondents who answered a survey mailed to students across Canada this year.

About half of the respondents reported difficulties paying tuition because of limited employment opportunities.

Tuition fees for international students are up by almost 38 per cent from 1999, the CBIE says.

The average tuition for a Canadian undergraduate student is $4,172 while the average tuition for foreign undergraduate students is just under three times that amount, Statistics Canada reported in September.

The CBIE survey also found that only 63 per cent of international students mix with Canadians. Also, 25 per cent of respondents, and 32 per cent of African students reported being affected by racism.

The Canadian Bureau for International Education is an organization representing universities, colleges and school boards.