Positive Trends in Domestic Applications

—From the desk of Brier Albano, Associate Vice-President, Student Success

Let’s talk about enrolment. Again.  

Sure, we can rehash the same conversation we’ve been having about international applications going down, but wouldn’t it be more fun to talk about how Business Administration is growing and has 21 admitted domestic students as of the end of May? Or the fact that Selkirk College has 14 active waitlists (we only had 10 last year). Let’s talk about how the applications in music were high incredibly early this year. When we have a collective goal—we meet it. This year is proof.  

We are also seeing other positive trends in our domestic applications. Did you know we saw an 8% increase in domestic accepted students between this year and last? We are also seeing a 3% increase in domestic seat deposits paid compared to last May. More than half of the Trades and Environment & Geomatic programs starting in August, September and October are 100% full. Even programs that have typically had low enrolment are seeing healthier numbers than normal on the domestic front. It is pretty amazing.  

In a year where a lot of things outside of our control are going wrong—like federal policy changes, a tight provincial budget and lower visa approval rates—we have learned a lot about mitigating situations and finding opportunities to grow toward a stronger and more successful Selkirk College.  

What else has been happening? Well, a lot!  

This week in the Student Success team meeting, we heard about how teams are working together to find solutions to remove costs and testing entrance barriers for student admissions with our academic programs.  

We heard about academic chairs working hard on academic scheduling in advance. Selkirk College has its first year-long academic schedule to help learners engage with learning without worrying about their work schedule or their child-care situations.  

We heard about how Co-op & Employment Services is working with other rural colleges to do amazing workshops next year to support students in getting the jobs they want.  

I know there is still a lot of uncertainty as we continue to get hit with more bad news; however, in a moment where nothing seems to be going our way, I think it’s important to know there are lights popping up here and there that keep us strong, keep us together as best we can and keep us Selkirk College. We just need to keep bringing the lights.