r

College faces cash crunch

NORTHWEST COM-
MUNITY College faces
another tough budget year
as it copes with spending
restraints.

While it will end its fi-
nancial year Mareh 31
with a balanced budget, -it
could face a $1.3 million
deficit which means more
cuts for the next year, says
college president Stepha-
nie Forsyth.

Approximately
$500,000 of the potential
deficit comes from infla-
tionary and other pressures
such as wage increases,
but the bulk - $800,000 -
rests with a provincial
government decision to
end support for part time
vocational training pro-
grams.

“That's a huge chunk of
money for us,” said For-
syth in noting that as it is,
the money it gets now for
part time vocational pro-
grams isn't enough.

“It doesn't even begin
to address our multi-cam-
pus situation, It helps, but
not in supporting our 10 lo-
cations.”

The provincial decision
to end its support of the
part time programs is part
of its general three-year
plan to balance the provin-
cial budget overall.

But the decision has re-
sulted in an intensive lob-
bying effort on the part of
Northwest Community
College and other colleges
throughout the province.

“It looks like they
might be beginning to
change their minds,” said
Forsyth of the provincial

Nursing
program
wanted

A MEETING here tomor-
row will determine the in-
terest level in having a
nursing degree program
here. ;

The plan is to offer the. a

first two years of a Bache-
lor of Science in Nursing
degree program at North-
west Community College
with the University of
Northern British Columbia
providing the third and
fourth years, also in Ter-
race,

Successful degree com-
pletion then paves the way
toward registered nursing
status.

A: co-operative venture
of this type isn’t new as
UNBC has a similar arran-
gement with the College
of New Caledonia (CNC}
in Prince George.

Beth Davies, who runs
university credit programs
for NWCC, says the col-
lege.already offers all but
two of the required first
and second year courses
needed to move onward,

“They would provide
those and the final two
years,” said Davies of the
potential partnership with
UNBC. ,

The meeting takes
place 6 p.m. tomorrow at
the UNBC offices on Park.

UNBC's Rob van Adri-

chem said the arrangement
between his school and
CNC has worked well.
“The bottom line js that
by training people in the
north, they tend to stay in
the north,” he said.
Surveys of the UNBC-
CNC program early on
-have proven that out., van
‘ Adrichem added, °
That program has now
grown to the point where
32 students moved up to
UNBC from CNC last
year, 41 did so this year
and as many as 60 are due
to finish at CNC and enrol
at UNBC next year.
“When. they graduate,
they come out with a Ba-
chelor of Science in Nur-

sing degree from UNBC,”

van Adricherm continued.

A successful nursing
degree program would in
some ways return NWCC
to where it was in. the
early 1990s.

It used to offer a diplo-
ma program leading to re-
gistered nursing status but

‘it ‘was cancelled “when...

budget and other: problems
hit in the 1990s. .

response to the lobbying.

Last year. the college
cut jobs, reduced services
and raised tuition rates to
fend off a deficit.

“Those awful kinds of -

things have paid off,” For-
syth ;

But it continues to have
a challenge in meeting
provincial guidelines: re-
quiring a set amount of
students for. the money it
gets from the province.

By March of 2005, the
college needs to have re-
gistered 1,825 full time
equivalent students, —

It now has 1,570. full
time equivalent students
which is 92 per cent of its
goal this year of 1,700.

“Last year we had 82
per cent, so we are show-
ing a steady increase,”
said Forsyth,

A failure to reach the
mandated student level
could result in the pro-

G

vince cutting the college’s
budget even further and
transferring that money
elsewhere.

“But we're not going to
let that happen. Qur man-
date is to increase the
number. of students and
meet the demand that’s
out there,” said Forsyth.

It means new programs
to fit requests and more
partnerships with commun-
ity organizations.

In the works, for exam-
ple, is a criminology pro-
gram and more late spring
and summer courses,
which took place for the
first time last year,

The college board does
have the option of raising
tuition fees to trim any po-
tential deficit but the more
they go up, the less likely
people will be able to af-
ford them, said Forsyth.

_ Its tuition fees - $1,410
for a full time course load

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - B3

Stephanie Forsyth

— are the lowest in the pro-
vince. The College of the
Rockies in the Kootenays,
for example, has tuition
fees of $1,737.

In any event, raising
tuition wouldn't come
close to solying any defi-
cit, said Forsyth.

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