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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Students at Aurora College in Yellowknife want the opportunity to earn a degree without uprooting their lives to study at a southern institution, according to a petition being circulated by students in the business administration program.

Second-year business administration students Kari Williams, left, and Mishelle Lavoie look over the petition they've been circulating among their at Aurora College classmates that calls for college administration to add a third year to their program. - Laura Busch/NNSL photo

The petition appeals to college administration to add a third year to the two-year business administration program currently offered at the North Slave campus. As it is now, students in that program must complete years three and four of their baccalaureate degree by transferring to a southern university or studying online through correspondence with Athabasca University.

As of press deadline, there were 36 signatures on the petition. There are 30 students in the program.

"'You can never be overdressed or overeducated,' in the words of Oscar Wilde. I mean, you need an education and as long as I'm going to go to school here, I want my education to be valued," said Kari Williams, a second-year business administration student who drafted the petition.

Many post-secondary students in Yellowknife and throughout the territory have commitments outside of school such as children and the need to support their family financially, said Williams. This makes moving to a southern city for two years to finish school difficult at best, and at worst deters students from finishing their degrees, she said.

As stated in the letter accompanying the petition, 87 per cent of North Slave campus students have children and average just $63 in discretionary income per month.

"For a lot of the students, you have to sacrifice a lot to go to school in Yellowknife, and I don't think that's acknowledged," said Williams. "I mean, I have an average of three jobs throughout the school year and I don't really have time to spend with my daughter because my husband has two (jobs) and I average three - we're doing what we can."

Student business association president Mishelle Lavoie, another second-year business administration student in Yellowknife, said she hopes the petition gets the ball rolling and starts a discussion about how to offer Northern students more high-level learning while keeping them closer to home.

"People, I think, would want to finish their degree more if they could stay here," she said.

Lavoie, who would like to eventually start her own small business in the hospitality or fashion industry, said one of the benefits of studying business in Yellowknife is the Northern perspective on business given by instructors here.

Tim Doyle, a personal finance instructor with the program, said there is always a danger that students who move south to finish their studies will never return to the territory.

"If you're training your local base here - the people that are from here and live in the area - they are probably more likely to stick around and raise their families and get a mortgage and, you know, support local businesses," he said. "So, you're protecting your existing population base by offering that service."

Doyle said he applauds the efforts of his students and looks forward to the day a third and even fourth year of the program are offered to Yellowknife students.

However, current college facilities in Yellowknife make it extremely difficult to add additional classes. Both Williams and Lavoie acknowledged most classrooms at the North Slave campus are constantly in use.

This points to a need to expand the campus to add more facilities, said Doyle. For example, if there was a proper auditorium at the college, it could be used to host guest lectures from visiting experts.

"We know that the GNWT is under a cash crunch right now," he said. "But this is one of the ones that should be looked at as an investment because of the return you're going to get on it: and educated workforce that is much more productive."

Jane Arychuk, president of Aurora College, was not available as of press deadline.

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