Selkirk College will close its Victoria Street campus at the end of this academic year.
The campus, home to Kootenay Studio Arts, offers ceramics, textile arts and blacksmithing programs.
The college said the closure is one of several steps it is taking to address a projected budget shortfall of $3 million to $4 million in 2026‑27.
It said the cost of operating a standalone campus for a small number of students is no longer feasible, even at full program capacity.
“Maintaining a campus for a maximum of 33 students is not financially sustainable. It puts considerable strain on our operational budget and staff resources,” said Selkirk.
Students currently enrolled at the campus will be supported through to graduation, but new intakes have been suspended.
Anyone already enrolled for fall 2026 will be contacted directly and reimbursed.
Ten staff members are affected by the closure, including part‑time, full‑time and short‑term employees. The college said it is working closely with unions and impacted staff.
College president Maggie Matear added that the decision followed an intensive review and reflects federal policy changes surrounding international‑student study permits.
She said the college has looked at a number of options for KSA in recent years, conducting operational reviews and even reconfiguring program lengths to encourage graduation rates and increased enrolment.
Then in early 2025, the college made major cost‑saving decisions across the entire institution, which included workforce reductions and other program suspensions.
It also looked at potentially moving the programs at KSA to another campus but, Matear said, that too was not financially viable.
“We found that relocating specialised studios like the kind that are at KSA would cost us millions of dollars in renovations and new infrastructure that we simply don’t have,” she said.
“The challenge we have is that even if we had full enrolment and a different facility, these programmes are among the most expensive programmes that we offer because they require very intensive workshop‑based learning, very small student numbers and costly supplies.”
There are no no plans to re‑introduce the programs in the future, with Matear saying reversing the decision would jeopardize not only the college’s financial health but also its responsibility to the entire community.
“We recognise that there’s a profound cultural and emotional impact of this decision on the arts community and beyond. We know that the KSA campus has been a creative hub for almost 60 years and that its closure is going to be felt very deeply,” she said.
“Unfortunately, we had to make this decision to ensure our college’s long‑term financial viability and its capacity to continue serving our region for generations to come.”
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