The world is full of people who deserve a second chance, but those chances won’t come as easy anymore.
For the students who want to go back to school to upgrade their education or take one or two-year diplomas, the path is now more difficult.
For the students who choose that path, there has been help from the Foundational Learning Assistance (FLA), which provides funding for students over the age of 18 to upgrade or complete high school education.
Unfortunately, the FLA budget has been cut by more than 50 per cent, which totals nearly $600,000 less than the budget from the 2023-24 academic year.
This will directly affect some students of Northern Lakes College, many of which are from remote, and rural Indigenous communities in Northern Alberta. A demographic with lower high school completion rates, who may rely on FLA help when choosing to further their education.
These issues were brought up by Coun. Ida Edwards at an Athabasca Town Council meeting on Dec. 3.
“You can see that the reduction is going to impact our local students with their ability to pursue their educational or career goals,” said Edwards. “Northern Lakes College is hit the hardest by it, because their programming is dependent on a student who comes back, upgrades, takes a one-year certificate program or a two-year diploma program. It’s not good.”
Northern Lakes College isn’t the only academic institution affected by the budget cuts. The entire Northland School Division (NSD) has been subject to funding cuts this past year.
The NSD was notified of the budget cuts this past May, and released a statement stating how they were going to deal with the impending cuts. However, the NSD did share in the statement that “there will be no reduction in the number of teachers, support staff, or access to services.”
To access the full statement you can head to their website.
Colleges, and their partner organizations have sent letters to the Minister of Advanced Education in Alberta to restore funding.
