By Cheryl Jahn

Enrolment Numbers better than expected

Oct 7, 2020 | 1:34 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – It’s not as bad as it could be.

That’s the prevailing sentiment from the heads of both local post-secondary institutions. UNBC says a .9 per cent increase in the number of students in terms of actual headcount, but a decline of three percent in full-time equivalent students.

“How you would interpret that is there are more students on campus taking fewer classes,” explains Dr. Geoff Payne, the Interim President for UNBC. “That’s the COVID environment right now. With the majority of our classes in the online environment right now, it’s hard to take five classes online.”

Not surprisingly, the College of New Caledonia saw the greatest decline in its international student numbers.

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“We saw roughly on par with last year in terms of domestic students. International students, we’re down by about 200 from what we have expected and indigenous students are down about 85 or 90 students from last year,” says Dennis Johnson, President of CNC.

“So overall, not as good as we’d like but overall better than what it could have been.”

However, the decline in students numbers will impact the budgets for both UNBC and CNC moving forward into the new year.