Ontario’s colleges, including Canadore, say the provincial budget detailed on Thursday will allow more students to get the professional and technical qualifications needed to pursue rewarding careers.

At the same time, they say they’re hopeful future budgets will include an increase in base funding per student.

Measures announced in the 2017 budget include:
– Exploring new opportunities to improve access to apprenticeship programs.
– Increasing the funding to support college sustainability by an extra $10 million this year. The increase will be $16.5 million by 2018-19.
– Developing a new website to provide better information about careers and the labour market to students, parents and employers.
– Enhancing student assistance so that recent graduates won’t have to pay the provincial portion of their OSAP loans until they’re earning at least $35,000 a year.
– Reaffirming the investment of $190 million over three years in the Career Kick-Start Strategy to help more students and graduates get work-related experiences as part of their education.
– Recalibrating the Second Career retraining program for laid-off workers.

“The budget reinforces the government’s commitment to helping more students get the expertise they need to pursue meaningful careers through experiential learning,” said George Burton, president and CEO of Canadore College. “It also reaffirms the pivotal role that colleges play in student success.”

“Producing a higher skilled workforce is essential as new technology and innovations continue to transform and strengthen our economy,” said Burton. “And while these measures are welcomed, in future budgets we hope to see an increase in base funding per student for colleges to help off-set inflationary pressures.”