Something would need to change to save suspended college programs

Although the 11 programs that have been indefinitely suspended have not been cancelled outright, top officials at Confederation College say a number of changes would have to happen to bring them back.

On Wednesday, the college announced the suspension of 11 programs across its Schools of Business, Hospitality and Media Arts; Engineering Technology, Trades and Aviation; and Health, Negahneewin and Community Services. On Thursday morning, the college’s president Michelle Salo and vice president of academic Aaron Skillen spoke with reporters about the changes.

“At this point in time we have a set of circumstances here at Confederation College, and certainly in the provincial and federal context there, that have contributed to these difficult decisions that we’ve had to make,” Skillen said.

“If those circumstances change, and change in a favourable manner that allow us to be more optimistic on a higher enrolment or allow us to deliver these programs in a more financially sustainable way, then we’ll certainly be open to revisiting thoughts in that space or other new program (development) in that space as well.”

A suspension, he said, means there are no plans to admit students for the foreseeable future in a given program, but with the possibility “of revisiting that program at a future date.” That, he said is different than an intake suspension, where there is a short-term pause on accepting students based on factors like specific cohort numbers, but with more definite plans to resume.

An outright program cancellation, he added, means an intentional complete and permanent shutdown.

Currently-enrolled students in the 11 programs will be able to complete their studies, the college said.

The college said international students used make up around 45 per cent of the fall intake — now, Salo said, they’re predicting 20 to 25 per cent.

Part of the issue that led to the current program suspensions is the smaller allocation the college has for attestation letters for international students in the 2025 calendar year, compared to years prior, Skillen said. Those letters, he added, must accompany an international student’s study permit to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. This year, the college had 1,544 of those in total, down from 1,929 at the outset of 2024.

On top of that, Salo said that the suspended programs aren’t ones where the federal government allows post-graduate work permits for international students.

“The ones that we’ve suspended are not on those lists,” she said. “We continue to advocate, and we have been for the past six months, to ask for those to be added to the list — as of today, they have not been added to the list.”

Salo said many of the job markets where graduates are qualified to work are in high demand “which is the unfortunate part of having to make a suspension like this.”

Domestic enrolment at the college has also been declining over the past decade or so, Salo said, adding that the suspension of the 11 programs affects 33 students, none of whom are international students. Skillen said those students have been notified and “we are working with those students on next steps.”

“The unfortunate part is that our domestic enrolment numbers have been declining for the last decade, and now without the international students to help support a reasonable cohort, it’s just been unmanageable in terms of a reasonable size in these programs,” Salo said.

When asked whether she thinks the college has relied too much on international students, Salo said that’s not the case.

“Our focus has been always to provide domestic students with opportunities here in Northwestern Ontario,” she said. “The reality is that our domestic numbers have been declining,” Salo continued, citing overall population decline and students choosing university over college.

“So, this actually was, for us, a responsible way to be able to provide these programs to our domestic students in small numbers while we’re able to attract international students to fill those seats.”

“In our perspective, it was a very responsible thing to do.”

The college has also cited “ongoing constraints” in post-secondary funding for Ontario colleges as a contributing factor, according to a press release issued Wednesday. Many other colleges in the province are also facing program suspensions and, in some cases, staffing cuts.

As for how the suspensions at Confederation may affect staffing at the local college, Skillen said “we have not announced any layoffs related to these program suspensions,” and that administration will continue to work with unions representing faculty and support staff to “mitigate the impact of these program suspensions.”

Operations at regional campuses won’t be affected, he added.

The college has been adding new programming to its roster, including a pharmacy technician program last year and, according to Skillen, an electrical technician diploma program this fall. Confederation College also recently announced a partnership with Seneca Polytechnic related to aviation and veterinary technician programming.

Reviewing which programs to offer, he said, is an ongoing process.

“This is activity that we undertake each and every academic year from a planning perspective, and we’re pretty open to any new program ideas that we think both meet our local and regional labour market need and ideally would have great interest from a student population standpoint as well.” – tbnewswatch.com

article website here

Its too expensive.  Plain and simple.   Instead of lowering the cost, governments make it easier for students to borrow money.  This makes students start their working life deep in debt.

Also, instead of making things more affordable for Canadian students, the post secondary schools went after international students.  Students that pay two to three times the tuition rate.

High staff salaries and a large administrative complement have sky-rocketed costs.   It is easy to see that this is not a sustainable system.  Its almost a Ponzi scheme.  Very close.

There is no reason why education costs are going up when technology is available to bring down those costs.

With the Internet people should be able to learn online for a fraction of the cost of attending school in person.  In fact, courses from universities and colleges located all over the world should be available at a reasonable cost.  Learn at ya pace you can afford. Work and learn.

This is the Post-Secondary Education Industrial Complex.  Its all about money. Not about education.