Post-secondary institutions are more than places of learning–they are vital economic anchors, especially in regional and rural communities. Funding shortfalls that lead to layoffs, programme cuts, or that threaten campus closures, have impacts that extend far beyond campus walls. In many BC communities, colleges and universities are among the largest employers. They provide stable, family-supporting jobs for faculty, staff and service workers. They also attract students who rent apartments, shop locally, and participate in community life. Crucially, these institutions enable young people and non-traditional learners–to pursue higher education without leaving their home communities, ensuring a home-grown workforce ready to meet local employment needs, and easing pressure on already overburdened urban centres.

Thompson Rivers University, for example, contributes over $885 million annually to Kamloops’ economy and supports one in every ten jobs in the region. It also provides essential social value, allowing more students–especially those from rural and Indigenous communities–to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees without leaving the region.

Now imagine the impact of reversing these benefits. Layoffs not only harm staff, but also the wider local economy. Shutting down a programme–or worse an entire campus–reduces opportunities for rural and regional residents while depriving local businesses of prospective skilled workers. In communities where post-secondary institutions serve as economic anchors, funding instability doesn’t just threaten the education system; it threatens the community itself.

BC is also failing to maximize its public post-secondary system to meet the province’s pressing need for skilled workers. The problem isn’t a lack of demand, rather, the system lacks the resources to respond effectively. Despite provincial goals to fill healthcare vacancies, accelerate housing construction, and expand early learning, institutions across the province are being forced to reduce seats, lay off faculty, and cancel or suspend programmes.

The problem is structural. Provincial operating funding has not kept pace with enrolment growth or inflation, leaving institutions without the stable, long-term funding they need to maintain or grow key programmes. Simultaneously, rising tuition adds further strain and places a growing burden on students, who are paying more for fewer course offerings and increasingly strained services. Students attending the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) report sessional instructors with limited experience and the re-use of lab equipment as cost-saving measures–visible signs of the erosion of education quality tied to chronic underfunding.

Without decisive action to restore stable public funding, BC risks losing its capacity to train the next generation of workers–further exacerbating critical labour shortages in healthcare, skilled trades, and beyond.

Today, we have a post-secondary system unable to deliver on workforce development on the scale required. Over the next decade, 76% of the more then 847,200 job openings expected in the province will require some level of post- secondary education or training, yet the funding needed to rescue an education system in crisis is not being prioritized. Instead of expanding capacity to meet workforce demand, institutions are closing programmes directly tied to sectors experiencing worker shortages.

Nowhere is this contradiction more clear than in the case of Okanagan College’s two-year Bachelor of Nursing. The case study below shows how a high-demand programme serving a critical sector was eliminated without warning, leaving students, staff, and the healthcare system scrambling amidst the loss.

The 2023 closure of Okanagan College’s two-year Bachelor of Nursing programme reveals how administrative decision-making can be disconnected from both student and workforce needs. In 2022, the province announced 602 new nursing seats across BC. The BC Nurses Union applauded the announcement, citing year-long waitlists for nursing programmes and applicant volumes that far exceeded available spots. Yet only one year later, Okanagan College (OC) abruptly shuttered its nursing programme.

Students and faculty were blindsided. There were no plans in place to transfer bursaries or financial aid tied to students’ enrollment at OC, nor any support for the higher tuition costs at UBC-Okanagan, where students were expected to finish their studies. Despite a national shortage of nursing educators, no strategy was implemented to retain experienced instructors within BC’s public post-secondary system.

Summing up the confusion, the Okanagan College Faculty Association stated “at a time when the province is recommitted to filling nursing vacancies and guaranteeing nurse to patient ratios coming out of the pandemic it is puzzling why our college would lose this programme.”

This is not an isolated case. There are countless other examples across the province of class and programme closures made with little regard for student needs (small class size, regional location, lower tuition fees, etc.) that also appear to contradict the province’s economic needs. Each short-sighted cut compounds already urgent labour market shortages.