Starting at college a smart move for B.C. students

Metro Vancouver — Daniel Dubois was headed for university to play basketball when he was sidelined by a motorcycle crash that nearly shattered his ankle in Grade 12. Instead of university and basketball, he found himself backpacking around Australia. When he got back, he registered for Langara, which turned out to be a great stepping stone for him — one that ultimately led him back to university and basketball. 

Colleges in B.C. are not just stepping stones, they offer a way for students to stay closer to home, save money and study in smaller classes, while working toward the same degree they would earn if they went directly to university. Not only that, but it’s easier to get in. 

While the University of British Columbia requires at least an A average to get accepted, Langara takes anyone with a Dogwood graduation certificate and Vancouver Community College accepts everyone.

Sara Osman, 19, was able to get in at the last minute to the VCC engineering program, which will launch her straight into second-year engineering at Simon Fraser University next year. She grew up in Lebanon and wasn’t in Canada in time to apply directly to university. But when she arrived last September she found out there was a space at VCC and jumped right in. Even though she was two weeks late starting the program, she has maintained a 3.7 grade point average. 

“The instructors really helped me and they gave me a chance to catch up,” Osman said. “I think (VCC) is a really good choice.” 

At VCC, the largest class has 40 students, said Kathryn McNaughton, VCC’s vice-president academic, students and research. At Langara, classes range in size from 20 students to no more than 40 students, said Ian Humphreys, Langara’s new Provost and vice-president of academic and students. 

“Occasionally, you will get the odd double section of 80 students. In science disciplines, we will have classes of 32, so students get really good exposure to the instructors,” Humphreys said. 

Langara is focused on teaching and learning, not research, Humphreys said. 

“University transfer is what we do. It’s our bread and butter, which is giving kids the skills they need to be successful when they transfer to university,” Humphreys said.

B.C. has an integrated system of colleges and universities, one that is specifically designed to allow for transferability. This means students have more flexibility in B.C. than anywhere else in the country, said Andrew Arida, UBC’s director of undergraduate admissions, enrolment services. Alberta also has a thorough transfer system, but other provinces do not. 

Both Osman and Dubois said college was a good transition and it certainly didn’t hurt that they saved about half on their tuition fees. At VCC, tuition is $86 per credit. At Langara, it’s $92. At UBC or SFU it’s more than $165 per credit. 

“If you do a year of transfer and you choose your courses correctly, you will graduate with the same degree in the same amount of time without having wasted your tuition dollars or without having wasted your time and all of our studies show that the outcomes are the same, so it is a great way to go,” Arida said. 

UBC has spaces available specifically for transfer students, in addition to those created by attrition, in both second and third year, Arida said. 

“About one-third of UBC’s new student seats are for upper year transfer students, which is quite a lot for a university our size,” Arida said. “We have designed the system this way, with clear articulation. I can go online and find exact equivalents for courses at UBC and other institutions.” 

Students who transfer from colleges to university do just as well by the end of their university education, the 2015 BC Transfer Students: Profile and Performance Report shows. Sometimes they do even better. 

“Overall, transfer students’ graduation GPA was higher than direct entry students’ graduation GPA for all receiving institutions, except SFU,” the report says.

VCC’s university transfer program grew 13 per cent last year and some science courses have waiting lists for the first time, McNaughton said.

“I think students are coming to VCC because we have smaller class sizes, we have access to professional tutors, we have very strong instructors and a wide range of students services,” McNaughton said.

Both Langara and VCC charge among the lowest tuition rates in the province. Tuition rates are capped at an increase of two per cent per year, so they won’t be able to catch up with other institutions any time soon. 

“We get the lowest (full-time) grant per student in the province as well, so we’re the lowest funded, both by tuition and government transfer in the college system,” Humphreys said. “Everyone’s got financial challenges in the post-secondary system right now. We’ve offset that by fairly successful recruitment of international students.” 

Now 24, Dubois has almost finished his business degree at Capilano University. After an inspiring entrepreneurship class at Langara, he got interested in the sharing economy and has now started two companies, ShareShed, which is like airbnb for outdoor adventure gear, and Guiides.com, which matches people with outdoor guides. 

He says Langara was a great way to go and that nearly everyone he went to high school with was there.

“Langara was good — I think it makes a lot of sense,” Dubois said. “For myself, in high school, I didn’t go to school as much as I should have. Between basketball and entrepreneurship, that was my life. When I went to Langara it was a very good transition. I went all in, trying to get the best grades I could.” 

He credits Langara and Capilano with giving him a small community where he could built momentum to do things like speak in front of 20,000 people at WE Day and do a Ted Talk on the sharing economy. He also studied abroad while at Capilano.

“I think that was one of the most incredible experiences to be part of at any university,” Dubois said. “We couch surfed with politicians in Iceland on election weekend. We carpooled from country to country with people and none of us shared a word of the same language.” 

tsherlock@vancouversun.com

Twitter: @tsherlock

 

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