EDMONTON – Red Deer College is the latest post-secondary institution in Alberta to announce staff layoffs and the possible elimination of programs in the wake of the provincial budget.
Red Deer College says it is facing a $6 million shortfall because of funding cuts to universities and colleges in the spring budget.
“That’s a significant cut to a college this size,” explains Jane Proudlove, vice president of the Red Deer College Faculty Association.
“There is no possible way that amount of money can be found without impacting the services and the programs that are being offered by Red Deer College,” she adds.
The college says it’s looking to lay off 32 employees.
“We were put in a very tough decision when we were asked to cut that number of dollars from budgets that have already shrunk and really they were quite tight and efficient colleges prior to these cuts,” says Proudlove.
“Definitely tough choices and I guess the answer is yet to come in terms of whether they were the right choices but we had to make those cuts,” she says, “we had no choices.”
In addition, several programs are on the chopping block, including the Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) diploma program.
Students enrolled in the program received phone calls Friday, notifying them that the college might be eliminating the second and third year certificate options.
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“We do have some concerns about where they might be able to go and how they’re going to fit, and how the work place and the profession is going to manage with this decreased number of graduates coming out into the workforce,” says Proudlove.
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Some students who are enrolled online are now worried.
Sarah-Jo Errity is in her second year of the ELCC program and says she’s devastated by the news.
“I felt like the last two years almost were a waste of time,” she shares.
“The way that Red Deer College (RDC) has arranged their course curriculum, both years intertwine, so anything that I’ve done so far I would have gone further into detail in my diploma program, and now I won’t get that option, and other colleges won’t have the same program,” says Errity.
Students are worried about where they will be able to continue their education, since they say there are very few options in Alberta to get the diploma through online courses.
“I will have my certificate, which is level two and then I would continue onto the diploma program which has been cut from me,” Errity explains, “so there is no option to continue on at RDC that way. We’ll have to find another college in Alberta that offers it online, because of circumstances, I can’t exactly go to school full time.”
Errity has a new baby which she welcomed last semester. She says, even having a child didn’t put a hold on her education.
“I’ve worked so hard. I had a baby last semester and I didn’t miss a beat, and I’ve gone to courses every semester, kept up good grades and now it’s just halted.”
“I’m hoping that there’s going to be light at the end of the tunnel,” she adds. “We’ll find more about it this week and I can continue on at a different college.”
She says she’s been researching other options herself, but hasn’t found a college that will accept her online courses.
“The instructors are also devastated and they are doing everything in their power to make the transition easy for us,” says Errity.
Proudlove says RDC is working to students to help match them with programs in other institutions. However, she’s still concerned.
“Without those part time options and distance options and without being able to take a course within a driving distance, some of them will just shut the door to those options and so I really worry about those students.”
“It will make a huge impact to Red Deer and the area and that retention piece is huge for a post-secondary for somewhere like RDC,” adds Jason Heistad, a vice president with the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees. “Students will look elsewhere, and elsewhere might be out of province.”
“For some of them, I think there’s a sense of betrayal that ‘I started here and I thought I could do this here and now I can’t.’ But we will always work with the student to find out what the best option is for them,” says Proudlove.
“Coming to RDC for that certificate, you would be able to – potentially, if there is room – transfer into other diploma programs, if they have the room to accept our students.”
Any changes to programs and services offered at a post-secondary institution have to be approved by the ministry of Advanced Education.
Red Deer College says the application to have those programs suspended has already been sent to the minister.
“I think the government really needs to take notice that this budget hasn’t helped students whatsoever,” says Heistad.
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