Financial pressure has forced Lakeland College to close five satellite campuses and end its popular Western Horsemanship program, said the college president.
With less money from government and a five percent increase in staff wages to restore salaries to where they were before a past rollback, the Vermilion-based college has been forced to chop programs to come up with more money, said Steve Pawlak.
“We made the decision to discontinue some operating funding to permanently allot to operating others,” he said.
The college will close satellite campuses at Cold Lake, Fort Kent, St. Paul, Vegreville and Wainwright. Between 10 and 50 students a year at each of those campuses took mostly upgrading courses. The Alberta Vocational Centre will offer similar programs everywhere but Fort Kent.
Read Also
Canola oil transloading facility opens
DP World just opened its new canola oil transload facility at the Port of Vancouver. It can ship one million tonnes of the commodity per year.
The college will try to sell or rent its facilities at those centres.
“We felt we couldn’t continue to staff, pay rent or utilities for 10 to 25 students a year,” he said.
It’s all part of an attempt to find more money to focus on priority programs, said Pawlak.
Ten years ago, the government cut its capital replacement money from 12 percent to three, making it difficult to replace outdated equipment. Of the 650 to 700 computers on campus only two have Windows 95.
The savings from closing some of the centres and other changes will free up about $600,000 to spend on computers and internet services.
Another $600,000 is needed to restore the staff salary rollback of five years ago, he said.
Other colleges never cut salaries or are in the process of replacing cuts made earlier. Lakeland was forced to give the salary increases to its staff as well.
“I’m not unhappy with giving it back. Our staff are getting the same or lower salary for seven years,” he said.
Cutting expensive programs
The board also eliminated the popular Western Horsemanship program and the swine program.
The horse program is “extremely expensive” and the job market isn’t good for graduates, said Pawlak. Students already in the program will graduate, but other students will be directed to Olds College’s two-year program or Fairview College’s one-year horse program.
Heating the massive riding arena during the winter was one of the biggest problems. The college hasn’t made a decision what to do with the facility.
It may bring back the equine program in the future on a user-pay basis. Tuition would cost about $12,000 to $15,000 a year.
The swine program was cut because the facilities were old and Olds College has become the centre for swine education in the province.
“Our facility is really old and not up to par with industry standards. It’s not a modern facility.”
Money Lakeland College expects to save from eliminating the swine program will go toward the dairy program. The college has increased its milk quota and hired another dairy herdsperson.
