Despite a drop in applications at Ontario colleges, enrolment is up this fall by six per cent. 5,000 additional students signed up for first-year classes at community colleges, marking the end of a number of years of stagnant growth.

“This record enrolment indicates that more and more people are realizing the benefits of the career-focused education and training provided at Ontario’s 24 colleges,” said Linda Franklin, president of Colleges Ontario.

Colleges Ontario released the statistics yesterday that showed a one-year growth equal to the past six years combined at the province’s 24 colleges. Predictably, the organization used the statistics to show how they need more money, with only days before the provincial election.

“The growing demand for college education is putting huge cost pressures on the system and constraining the ability of colleges to maintain or improve their programs and facilities,” Franklin said. The now colleges enroll 51 per cent more students than they did in 1990, but receive 29 per cent more funding per student in constant dollars, according to Colleges Ontario.

“Ontario’s political leaders and election candidates must support meaningful targets for producing greater numbers of college graduates, and for retraining greater numbers of people in the workforce in order to avert the looming skills shortage,” Franklin said. “Furthermore, Ontario must ensure colleges have the improved funding that is essential to meeting these targets.

Franklin also noted that colleges were an important part of addressing the skilled labour shortage facing the province. “Ontario faces a skills shortage of more than 360,000 people by 2025, due to the wave of retiring baby boomers and slowing population growth,” Franklin said. “Furthermore, global competition and technology-driven changes are placing greater demands on existing employees and driving layoffs in some sectors today. Ontario needs a comprehensive strategy to address these challenges, and colleges will be central to the success of that strategy.”