THUNDER BAY - The start of the school year can be a stressful time for any student. For some students at Confederation College, just finding a place to live is adding to the stress before classes have even begun.
Residence at Confederation College is at capacity. The campus has 300 spaces for students, including Sibley Hall and the addition of two new residence buildings Cedar House and Spruce House that opened in 2015.
“This is the first time in the last number of years that we’ve actually had full occupancy,” said Ken Adams, vice president of college services. “We know that is going to be a challenge for students.”
With enrollment up, including nearly 600 international students compared to 534 last year, on-campus housing at full capacity has left some students scrambling to find accommodations.
Confederation College Student Union president, Jodi Afonso, said a number of students have been struggling to find off-campus housing.
“The top three concerns students are saying are the financial needs, location, and finding appropriate roommates that can match their financial needs,” she said. “Finding those accommodations can be challenging for them.”
This can be particularly challenging for international students who are unfamiliar with the city. Afonso said SUCCI does work with international students to assist them in finding a place to live.
“For an international student, a lot of them do have friends who are already here and they may be staying with that friend at this moment,” Afonso said. “When they do come, we do offer them a three day hotel to help them find those accommodations.”
While it is a frustrating situation for some students, Adams said seeing full capacity residences and increased enrollment is something the college has been working towards.
“In 2015, the college was anticipating an increased demand for residences and we brought on two new residences at that time,” he said. “We actually had vacancies over the past two years in all of our facilities. In actual fact, this is a positive move. I know it’s a challenge for students, but we are excited to have them here.”
Adams added that the addition of 128 new residence units in 2015 was the first phase in what is expected to be a two phase project. If demand continues to rise, a second 128 unit residence could be added to the campus.
“It all depends on demand,” he said. “Right now we want to see that this is a continuing trend for demand then we will look at planning for those additional 128 units. We do want a sustained approach here. If we do continue to have waiting lists, we will look at the feasibility of building those new units.”
