Photo courtesy of Northlands College
Northlands College in La Ronge today announced a number of supports for students who were previously in the NORTEP program, which ended this summer.
Tuition and books will be paid for and a living allowance will be provided to students entering their fourth year of their program. The big question is accommodation, one that has not yet been answered.
Northlands College President and CEO Toby Greschner says with the uncertainty of what will happen to the apartments owned by NORTEP, Northlands has gone as far as it can on student allowances.
“We have been waiting, hopefully just to know what is going on, so we could advise students where everything landed,” he said. “But we have not got any answers, and it’s now getting really, really close to crunch time, so we have to make this announcement today.”
Back in March, the NORTEP Council announced it was turning all of its assets, including the apartments over to Gabriel Dumont Institute. However, Greschner says that has still not been finalized, and he is hoping for a change of heart.
The chair of the Northlands College Board, Deborah Charles, is also extremely concerned about student housing, since no decision has yet been made. She says she hopes the NORTEP Council will put the best interests of the students first and transfer the apartments to Northlands.
“We have been waiting on the NORTEP Council for decisions with respect to the apartments, library computers, vehicles and other items needed to run the program before we could make any financial commitments to the students. Although we have been made aware of some of the decisions, the Northlands College Board feel the waiting has gone on long enough.”
NORTEP Council representatives were not immediately available for comment.