Some students at Confederation College are being forced to couch surf, and it may be hurting the school’s future enrollment numbers.
President Jim Madder says he’s fielded phone calls from parents saying that while they’d love to send their kids to Thunder Bay for school, a lack of accommodations has kept them away.
A near-zero vacancy rate in the city has hit the college hard. It’s the reason the school is planning a new 200-bed residence.
“I wish I could push a magic button and produce more accommodation right now but I can’t. It’s an issue until we have something like this up,” Madder said.
The residence would be part of a student village, along with new recreational facilities and a student success centre.
Coming from Red Deer College, Madder said the campus there was alive and vibrant all the time. He would like to see the student village attached to the rest of the campus so spaces like the recent atrium are used more.
But with a request for proposals going out to architectural firms, the plan is still in its infancy Madder said.
“We need to find out from students, we need to find out from our community partners what this could look like,” he said.
Funding for the residence could be from a public-private partnership. The same formula could be used for a recreation facility along with student support.
The success centre could be supported through fundraising efforts. But Madder said it’s still early though they could be open by 2015.
The three projects might have different timelines but he’d like to see them designed together.
