Inuvik (Jun 05/06) - For just a wee bit more money, Aurora College could produce many more graduates, says the college's president.

"We have a pretty high-cost basic structure to get going, but with a little bit more funding we can offer so much more," said Maurice Evans during a recent launch of the Inuvik campus' programs for 2006-07.

Yvonne Carpenter from Municipal and Community Affairs presents Jackie Pascal of Fort McPherson, right, with the Minister's Award for practicum excellence in the recreation leaders program at the Inuvik Aurora College grad banquet, May 12. She's already got a job lined up in her home community as the director of recreation services. - Chris Woodall/NNSL photos

"For every dollar that we put into it now, we get an exponential dividend in terms of students," he said. "If you spend $5 million for a building and you need $150,000 for a program, that could create 10 more graduates."

The problem is trying to get that extra money out of territorial government coffers.

"My personal belief is that we should have the (NWT) government have a claim against the federal government to say 'look, you gave us a territory that we're responsible for, but you gave us all the liabilities (of well-worn facilities)'," Evans said.

"We have taken over a lot of infrastructure that's aging, so there has to be a commitment to plan for its replacement," he said.

Inuvik's campus is an example.

"We built this campus somewhat adhoc as the demand grows," Evans said, noting that the Inuvik campus started when the college took over a vacated military barracks in 1987.

"We very quickly took advantage of the situation and put a program up here," he said.

"Since that time, we got increases in money here and there, but our success has really come from the Gwich'in and Inuvialuit, who have used their education money to support our certificate and diploma programs."

In 2004-05 those partnerships were worth $1.9 million, and $2.3 million in 2005-06, he said. What's needed is to put the college under a financial microscope.

"We need an analysis of our funding allocation, but this shouldn't be done at the expense of the other campuses (in Yellowknife and Fort Smith)," Evans said of determining how many programs or what types should be offered.

As high schools maintain and expand on extension programs that encourage adult learners to complete secondary school credits toward their graduation diploma, the college has to decide how it can respond to keep that education stream flowing.

"We have not really taken the time to look at what Aurora College needs, what the full requirements are, to foster the opportunities that are possible," the college president said.

A residence for the Inuvik campus is, if not a burning issue, then an issue that is simmering mightily on a financial back-burner.

"It's not cancelled. It's on its way, but prices on many things are coming in extremely high, so it's gonna take some time and we'll continue to work on that," Evans told Inuvik faculty and staff.

"We have a construction problem," he said later in an interview. "We need to get the housing project on track, but we have some difficulties with the pressures of the construction market right now."

Another consideration is Aurora College's presence in the Territories:

Is it really necessary to have three campuses?

Yes it is, Evans said, noting the comfort level a regional campus brings to people very attached to their isolated community.

"That was why we went to the three campuses," Evans said. "It was important for (small community students) to gain success in their home region to begin with. I support that and I think the government was right to go in that direction."

The Inuvik campus proves that point. "This campus is a cornerstone of providing developmental opportunities in careers for people from this region."

Students are attracted to programs they see as helping them get a job. Evans admits the NWT's small population sometimes makes it difficult to get a "critical mass of students with the proper educational background" - all with physics and high math learning, for example - to form a cohort that would make a specialist course viable.

"We may be surprised one of these days that we get a cohort right out of high school," Evans said. "But right now we know that the students who are coming out will need to be put into an education access program and we have to try to keep that cohort together in that first or second year."