Government program hurting students pursuing post-secondary education
By: Roger Tran
Courier Staff
The provincial government’s Second Career program has attracted criticism, with critics alleging the program is taking space away from high school students who are pursuing a post-secondary education.
The program provides assistance for recently laid-off workers to attend schools like Centennial College and train for new careers. Costs such as tuition, transportation and living accommodation are some of the expenses Second Career covers. Started in fall 2008, the program was designed to help out 20,000 people in three years. However, applications for Second Career filled up quickly, with 21,000 enrolled in 18 months.
“It’s been a bit of a failure right from the start,” Conservative MPP for Sarnia-Lambton Bob Bailey says.
He says the program puts potential high school students at risk.
“Those young people are going to be competing for spots as well,” he says. “I think the government should have planned for this.”
Bailey thinks the unstable economy should have warned the government of high application numbers for Second Career.
“It seems like they’re making up the rules as they go along,” he says. “They’ve known for at least two years about what’s going on with the recession.”
He wants to change the specifics of the program. He says the solution is not to add more seats, but add more space for prospective students.
“What we’ve called for is in the number of spots to take empty factories or office buildings,” he says. “Open those up and make them available for training.”
Centennial’s academic chair, Gail Beagan, sees Second Career in a different light. Although 500-600 students from Second Career have enrolled at Centennial since 2008, she says the space is not being taken away.
“You must meet the entrance requirements for the program and there must be seats available,” she says. “I think the statement that spots for high school students are being taken away by Second Career is totally false.”
Students who are coming fresh out of high school and laid-off workers are treated equally in the admissions process, Beagan says.
“As long as they applied by the February 1st cutoff date, everybody meets the same criteria,” she said. “There is no special treatment for students who are Second Career vs. secondary school students.”
The provincial government created the program to help employees affected by the recession. Beagan says the Ministry had set out their plan to educate and to admit students to college. The high number of Second Career applicants at Centennial shows the popularity.
“It’s an extremely successful program,” she said.
High school student Mathew Shin will graduate this year and has applied for post-secondary education in the fall. He thinks Second Career students should not take spots away.
“I think that high school students just starting college should have the first choice, and then people who’ve been laid off get second choice.”
However, Shin believes Second Career is a step in the right direction.
“It’s pretty good, but they need to make sure that the right people get these opportunities and chances,” he said.