Province expands tuition fee waiver plan for former youth in care, includes union led training program

Advanced Education, Skills and Training Minister Melanie Mark
outlines the details to a tuition waiver program for the trades directed
towards former youth in care
(Photo from BC photo stream)

The province of British Columbia is providing for more options for former youth in care, expanding on the tuition fee waiver program of September, to now include tuition fee waivers for those seeking entry to the construction trades through training provided by accredited union providers.

Melanie Mark, the Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Training introduced the expanded options yesterday, highlighting the options that the program will offer those youth who were once in provincial care.

“We’re building on our tuition waiver program by providing former youth in care with even more opportunities to pursue a career in the building trades,”  ... “For former youth in care, this tuition waiver program can mean the start down a rewarding new path, whether in trades, business, social work or tech.”

The training programs hosted by the unions, serve as an entry point into the trades in the province, with an anticipation that some 59,000 jobs will be opening up for the industry by 2027.

So far the training program has seen an increase in participation by 77% from 2017 to 2018.

Tom Sigurdson, the Executive Director of the BC Building Trades made note of the existing training programs and what it has to offer those that will be taking advantage of the tuition fee waiver project.

“Expanding the tuition waiver program to union-based training schools, which are jointly managed by unions and contractors, is great news,”  ... “Our members already provide wraparound career and personal supports to help apprentices through their training, and this is a further investment in their continued success.”

A list of the ten union led training providers can be reviewed below:

The NDP government announced the first expansion of the tuition waiver program back in September, when the waived tuition to all 25 public post-secondary institutions in the the province.

You can learn more about the tuition fee waiver program here.

For more information about the yesterday's announcement see this background item.

Further items of note about post secondary education can be found on our Education archive page, while more notes on provincial initiatives can be found on our Legislature archive.

To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.