Colleges Ontario

Dismal job market is prompting a back-to-school rush, with applications from mature students jumping more than 20 per cent

Elizabeth Church
EDUCATION REPORTER

February 4, 2010

 

The dismal job market is prompting a back-to-school rush at Ontario's community colleges that has left campuses scrambling to find space for a double-digit spike in demand.

Applications from mature students have jumped more than 20 per cent for spots in September, putting their numbers close to those coming from high school.

Total applications are up by 14 per cent across the province, numbers to be released this morning show, with demand from high school students rising 8.6 per cent from a year ago.

The double-digit increase is raising concerns about the colleges' ability to handle the increase, and will force campus leaders to juggle timetables and hunt for new teaching locations.

Student leaders say finding space is just part of the problem, with many programs requiring hands-on instruction. As numbers continue to swell, they worry quality will suffer.

At Toronto's George Brown College, where a new waterfront campus is not scheduled to open for more than a year, president Anne Sado said demand from mature students is already up by about 28 per cent. She expects that number to climb even higher as applications continue to arrive. "I've got to tell you, this is not the end of the story," she warned.

The school is responding by "being creative," she said, using movie theatres as lecture halls, moving offices to create new classrooms and making more use of traditionally slow summer sessions. The school also is working on partnerships with industry and service agencies that allow it to deliver courses at their sites.

"We are doing as much as we can to meet the demand," she said. All students - both mature and those arriving from high school - will be given equal consideration, she said, if they applied by the Feb. 1 deadline.

Jim Wilson, provincial Tory critic for colleges and universities, earlier this week warned high school students were at risk of "being frozen out of their local college altogether" because of the rising demand for training from laid-off workers.

 

John Milloy, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, called such comments "irresponsible," adding they create unnecessary anxiety among high school students and their families.

 

The province's Second Career retraining initiative provides extra funding to cover the costs of those students, he said, describing it as a "total myth" that people in this program are squeezing out high school graduates for spaces.

 

Tyler Charlebois, a director with the College Student Alliance, argues education is about more than finding classrooms. In the current economy, it is important, he said, to increase access to education and to make sure that standards are maintained. "We can't afford to turn people away and we need to make sure they get a quality education," he said.