Some Langley College students face a choice between significantly longer commutes or more time in classrooms to complete their studies as a result of the shutdown of the 28-year-old educational institution.
On May 14, the private college told students it will close Aug. 31 because the cash-strapped Langley School District has cut funding for outside programs for adults like the early childhood education courses taught at the college.
Full-time students will have enough time to complete their studies, but part-timers, about half the 250 students enrolled at the college, will not.
One of the part-time students, Aldergrove resident Stacey Fleming, said students were recently told they can transfer to other colleges, but some of the other colleges won’t give them full credit for their Langley courses.
That will mean extra hours in the classroom retaking subjects she has already studied.
Only “one or two” of the other colleges appear willing to give the Langley students full credit, Fleming said.
“It looks like I will be transferring to [a school in] Delta if I am accepted as their program is identical to ours,” Fleming told The Times.
“This will be a much bigger commute for me and as it stands [the Delta school only offers] part-time evening classes which I am not too happy about, but I really want my certification.”
Craig Spence, spokesperson for the Langley school district, said every effort was being made to place the displaced students.
Their grades will be archived at the school district offices for prospective employers to review and sealed transcripts will also be provided.
But the district can’t promise the Langley College students that “their needs will be met 100 per cent” Spence said.
The early childhood education program at Langley College trained students, most of them from from Langley, Abbotsford and Surrey, to work in daycare or preschools.
The college was recently given an excellent rating by the Private Career Training Institutions Agency (PCTIA), the provincial government body that audits privately-owned learning institutions in B.C.
A November 2010 review of Langley College by PCTIA auditors reported the “students are receiving excellent Early Childhood Education and Health Care Assistants career training in a well-equipped and well-managed educational facility.”