Earlier this month I attended an event called 鈥榩roject local government鈥� in which local high-school students had a chance to share a meal with 亚洲天堂 Lake council members and ask them questions.
Every year I鈥檓 impressed with the quality of questions and the students鈥� understanding of complex local issues.
This year, one of the students brought up the issues of housing and education in 亚洲天堂 Lake. She said she was frustrated with the fact that, up until a few years ago, the local campus of the College of New Caledonia (CNC) had more options for programs.
鈥淐NC in Prince George took away most of the programs here and now it鈥檚 mostly just trades, so we can鈥檛 get a decent education here,鈥� she said.
The feeling shared by this student makes you wonder if CNC is on the right track. Jay Notay, CNC鈥檚 vice president of community and student services, told Lakes District 亚洲天堂 last week that the recent decline in the number of 亚洲天堂 Lake students is not associated with the college鈥檚 restructuring (read story on page 16).
This same local student said that the lack of available housing makes it difficult for young people to stay in 亚洲天堂 Lake.
鈥淚 am graduating this year, and I want to stick around town, but none of the apartments have anything available,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here are no houses for rent, and I don鈥檛 have any credit, so I can鈥檛 buy a house.鈥�
Councillor Michael Riis-Christianson said he was happy to hear that a high-school student wanted to stay in 亚洲天堂 Lake after graduation.
鈥淭his is why we鈥檙e working on economic diversification, to make sure that people like you have a reason to stick around,鈥� he said.
Riis-Christianson said he also knows of people who gave up on their plans to move to 亚洲天堂 Lake because they could not find any available housing within their expected price range.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e not going to get people to move here if you don鈥檛 have accommodation for people, so it鈥檚 really important,鈥� he said.
CNC is now looking into attracting international students to 亚洲天堂 Lake to increase enrolment numbers. But if there鈥檚 no available housing, it would certainly be a challenge to implement that strategy.
The college is also investing in its digital delivery initiative (DDI) to increase enrolment numbers. The college says that feedback on its DDI initiative in Quesnel and Prince George so far has been positive, but is this really the best way to attract and retain students in rural areas? Shouldn鈥檛 rural campuses be investing in unique programs that can鈥檛 be found anywhere else?
Although the DDI initiative certainly seems to make sense from an administrative and financial perspective, I wonder if this is something that students are actually looking for.
