Selkirk College is seeing a notable upswing in domestic applications, with an 8 per cent increase in accepted domestic students compared to June 2024.
Associate vice-president Brier Albano said domestic students recognizing the quality of instruction, hands-on learning experiences and unique on-the-land opportunities offered at Selkirk College.
“We’re really encouraged by the increase in domestic students because people are recognizing that we have excellent education right here in our backyard in the West Kootenay.” asid Albano.
The college has 14 active waitlists, and several fall intakes of Industry & Trades Training and Environment & Geomatics programs are nearing or have reached full capacity.
“All of our hands on learning programs are the ones that really get people excited,” said Albano.
“Our environmental programs are absolutely doing great, our trades programs are experiencing very high volume of applications.”
“The waitlist don’t mean that people can apply, there’s always a little bit of flex as people change programs, but we are really encourage that our programs are getting the attention that they deserve.”
“If you apply and you don’t get in that particular year, you can still apply again in the future, and if you’re applying for the same program, you don’t have to pay the application fee again.”
The increase in domestic numbers comes at a pivotal time, as external challenges presented by changes to federal immigration policy will significantly reduce international student enrolment in the coming years.
“Selkirk College was working with international students to allow us to offer a wider range of variety of programs, so international students were helping us take classes that might be ten (students) and them into classes that could be 25 (students).” said Albano.
“At Selkirk we were allowing rural education to thrive, and as we move away from the international students that really does post challenges for Selkirk college, and how we can continue to offer relevant rural focus education in a way that meets our domestic student needs, because at the end of the day, where are a British Columbia institution, and we wanna make sure that we’re solving the problems of our community and solving the education needs of our of the West Kootenay.”
The strong growth in domestic applications underscores Selkirk College’s resilience and adaptability. This upward trend, supported by a stable financial outlook and a focus on program innovation, reflects the college’s ongoing commitment to providing accessible, high-quality education that aligns with labour-market needs.
