Seniors in Regina will be searching for new spaces to continue their education, after the Lifelong Learning Centre (LLC) announced they would drastically be scaling down their educational programming.
It was announced earlier in June that the LLC, which runs out of the University of Regina’s Continuing Centre for Education, would be scaling down its programming exclusively to lunch hour lectures from the university’s faculty for financial reasons.
At its peak, the LLC had roughly 600 students enrolled.
For student Kay Antrobus, who has been taking classes since 1996, the cuts to the program are leaving her feeling lost.
“It was a lifeline to keep us interested in in life and what was happening,” Antrobus said.
“I have absolutely loved the courses that I have taken,” Antrobus said. “It gives me an excitement to come out and participate.”
Antrobus said she noticed small changes to the programs over the last few years which were a sign of cuts coming.
“When I first started, they were nine-week courses, two hours a day for nine weeks. Then we got cut back to eight weeks and then six weeks. And then four weeks. And now we have zero weeks.”
Isabelle Dostaler, University of Regina provost and academic vice-president, said the decision to cut the programs was purely financial.
“We were experiencing loss year after year, so we had to make this decision,” Dostaler said. “It is never nice, downscaling in any business is never nice.”
“We are spending taxpayer money, so we need to be extremely careful with how we program things.”
Dostaler does say however, they are looking at alternative programs to run in the future, but no decision has been made.
“It is our desire to replace the offerings with something more financially sustainable,” she explained. “It will be different and smaller scale.”
Today, the Sask. NDP voiced their concerns with cuts to the programs.
“The advanced education minister promised at least seven times that their cuts to post-secondary funding wouldn’t result in cuts to post-secondary programing, yet here we are today,” said Sask. NDP advanced education critic Jennifer Bowes.
Matt Love, the senior critic for the Sask. NDP, believes the LLC and university funding should be a priority for the government.
“(The LCC) has offered many seniors a sense of community, a chance to be social and build new relationships, while also getting the opportunity to continue their learning,” he said.
“When we talk about mental health, too often we forget about the mental health of our seniors and older adults, the people who helped build this province. They deserve the opportunity to live their golden years to the fullest.”
In a statement from the Ministry of Advanced Education, they said the University of Regina is an autonomous institution with legislated authority to make decisions on academic matters. Neither the Minister of Advanced Education nor the Ministry have the authority to direct the universities on operational decisions.
“The Ministry’s understanding is that the University of Regina’s Lifelong Learning Centre is revamping this non-degree programming to better align with the needs of the community,” the statement read.
“Over the coming year, the University will review programming options in collaboration with the Seniors University Group and others. In the meantime, learners will continue to have access to high-quality, free programming offered by the Centre – with a focus on the lecture series which has attracted the greatest participation in recent years.”
Moving forward, Antrobus hopes the program is reinstated, even if there is a higher fee involved.
“We were doing this for the love of learning,” she said. “You don’t want to just sit in your armchair and watch soap operas.”
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