At the end of June, the Alberta Government announced that they would be implementing new restrictions on Alberta-provided student aid and protections for students attending private career colleges.

The changes came as increased scrutiny was heaped on nationally about the role and efficacy of private career colleges, including issues surrounding predatory loans being issued to students and the quality of education they’d received.

Among the changes announced by the government was, as of August 1, to prevent the use of Alberta Student Aid funding at colleges outside of the province and outside of provincial regulation.

“Alberta’s government is committed to funding post-secondary education in a responsible way that respects taxpayer dollars, provides students with the most value for their investment, and ensures we continue to produce a skilled workforce for the jobs of today and tomorrow,” said Rajan Sawhney, Alberta’s Minister of Advanced Education.

“These measures will protect students, taxpayers, and align Alberta with other Canadian provinces.”

Currently, BC and Ontario do not allow provincial funding for students to be used at colleges outside of their provinces.

Increased compliance efforts are also being undertaken by the provincial government, as a result of what the government said was increased complaints by students against the private career college industry and especially against newer career colleges.

Among the proposed changes include ensuring that colleges are aware of their requirements to be licenced by the province, have sufficient administration procedures in place for students, that premises and equipment used by the colleges are appropriate and effective for student learning, that students are provided accurate information about the training they will receive, that vocational teaching is delivered effectively.

According to statistics provided by the province, more than 25,000 students attended private career colleges and licenced programs in 2023, and that 190 colleges offered 980 different licensed programs of study.

The average employment rate of graduates from these programs was 79 per cent, according to the province, which was below the graduation rate at employment teaching institutions like SAIT at 91 per cent and 93 per cent for Bow Valley College.

Changes welcomed by policy advocates and colleges

Momentum, which provides employment skills and financial training for low-income and marginalized Calgarians, previously released a research and position paper on the private career college industry in 2022.

Courtney Mo, manager of public policy research and evaluation at Momentum, said the province’s upcoming changes were welcome for students.

“We’re hopeful that the recently updated complaint handling system as well, will help drive some attention and resources to where it’s needed most in the system. But our number one recommendation since our original published research was to increase oversight, and to strengthen compliance. So to see that listed was really wonderful,” Mo said.

“The Government of Alberta and the private college branch is, we believe, is working really hard to remedy the issues and risks. They remain very accessible. They’re open, very approachable to hearing what we’re hearing from students, and they regularly reach out they regularly express gratitude for being informed about what’s happening on the ground.”

She said that the government’s changes would work to protect the most vulnerable learners in the post-secondary system—the learners that have otherwise few to no other options to attend post-secondary education.

“Learners applying to the career colleges are more often older learners coming from intergenerational poverty, or low-income families, more likely to be living with single parents, and are more likely to be Indigenous learners, or more likely to be newcomers,” Mo said.

“In publicly funded post-secondary universities and colleges, there are a number of ways that oversight and quality control are met. But with the private career college system, we’ve seen a number of bad actors able to flourish and we’ve seen growth and proliferation of private career colleges in our system, some of dubious quality.”

Vital skills for Alberta’s economy means need for greater oversight

She said that overall the private career college industry has been vitally important to providing skills for in-demand careers such as those in health care and in transportation and logistics.

“We wouldn’t have truck drivers and long-term care workers and dental assistants, and many other very important roles in our society without private career colleges. It’s too important to fail. Private career colleges are too important to our economic and social development for there to be low quality control,” Mo said.

That sentiment was echoed by Dr. Tom Snell, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Columbia College, who said that the changes would enhance the reputation of the private career college industry for students.

“Columbia College is proud to support these new measures that will protect the reputation of private career colleges like ours, and stabilize the cost of student aid. We are grateful to continue working closely with Alberta’s government in supporting opportunities for students and a stronger post-secondary education sector,” Snell said.

Mo ranked the changes proposed by the government to be high on the list of changes requested by Momentum as part of their policy research.

Transparency by the government, she said, would also further enhance the quality of experience for students and confidence in the private career college industry by Albertans.

“If I’m considering a licensed childcare provider, I can go online and look at any infractions that licensed childcare provider [received], or any issues or orders to fix or remediate that are issued against that licensed provider. I can see that online so I can understand what issues licensed provider has experienced when they remedied it, how they remedy that,” Mo said.

“We think that there should be something similar to inform learners that are considering a private career college.”

She said that questions remain as to what point colleges would be prevented from operating depending on the number of infractions they may receive, or if they aren’t effectively teaching students.

Costs not likely to decrease as a result of government changes

Mo said that the proposed changes were also not likely to affect the cost for students attending the colleges.

The Alberta Government said that continuing to make attendance at the college affordable was among the top reasons to implement the changes.

“I can’t imagine that colleges would necessarily lower their tuition rates in relation to these changes. They would even have the option of potentially increasing to meet compliance and other measures, so I’m not sure what the change might be to cost in the system,” said Mo.

She said that Momentum will be watching to see what occurs in the private loans system, in response to decreased access through publicly provided loans.

“One thing that we are paying attention to is with increased rules around which colleges qualify, and when they qualify for the government, student financial aid, may lead to the use of a private student loan,” Mo said.

“We, for example, saw a private student loan at a 38 per cent interest rate—astronomically high from a private student loan provider, because the student didn’t qualify for publicly funded student aid. So, we’re a little bit worried about that, and keeping our eye on student experiences to see if there is growth or proliferation of these private lenders.”