Preparing a proposal to go towards the Provincial Government this fall
With a 15 percent increase in students compared to last year, the Okanagan College's Kelowna campus is taking steps to ensure it can keep up with that growth, beginning with a possible expansion in student housing.
Allan Coyle, Director of Public Affairs at the College, says they're preparing a proposal to build a 400-bed residence building for the Kelowna campus.
"We'll probably see that moved forward this fall and winter, and we're hoping to convince the Provincial Government to find support for it," says Coyle. "The Government, in this year's budget, did set aside money for student housing, so that's really prompted us to accelerate our development of this proposal."
The proposal will also include a 100-bed residence at the Vernon campus and a 60-bed residence at the Salmon Arm campus.
If approved, Coyle says there's no concrete timeline for construction.
"I'm sure that the students who are looking for apartments would love to see it tomorrow, but that's not going to happen," he says. "It could be 2019 or 2020 before anything gets started on the build."
There are currently only 114 spaces in residence at the College, while the student population is currently just over 6,000.
