Lethbridge College Registrar, Marko Hilgersom works on his laptop Monday afternoon at Lethbridge College.
With the 2016/2017 school year upon us, Lethbridge College is seeing exceptional enrolment growth in academic programming, and so is all of Alberta’s college’s across the province.
The recent economic downfall in Alberta is the real reason why numbers are rising.
As reported back in March, 2016, the unemployment rate in Alberta has risen up to 7.9% and that is being credited to why the spike in enrolment is so high in Alberta’s colleges.
“With a job market that’s shrinking, isn’t where it was just a few years ago, people are going to school rather than looking for employment,” said Lethbridge College Registrar, Marko Hilgersom.
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With a struggling Alberta upon us, people are looking to start out new, but not everyone is seeing positives out of this, especially people suffering through this first hand.
“It’s just sad that we’re seeing this happen where people are having to start new and pretty much restart their lives all due to a drop in the economy,” said first year student at Lethbridge College, Jacob Gunn.
Lethbridge College has seen its first year enrolment numbers rise 15 percent from last year, while Alberta as a whole is seeing an 11% increase in that category in its colleges.
The main area that is seeing huge jumps in enrolment rate is business and business administration programs. Other areas seeing growth include health and human service programs, university transfer programs and upgrading.
In addition to all of this, Alberta is also seeing an 11% rise in First Nations, Metis and Inuit enrolment.
Lethbridge College is hoping this isn’t just a onetime thing, but also something they can build off of for years to come. Also while including that it isn’t just the economic downfall that is causing a rise in enrolment rates at the school, but also has to do with great staff and great programming as pointed out by Hilgersom.
With an economy in a huge rut, look for numbers to rise even beyond 2016. As it is expected more people look to make the change and turn to school.
