The recent announcement of a new, collaborative, post secondary school campus is welcome news to families in Langford.
The campus is slated to be built on the corner of Goldstream Avenue and Peatt Road as a collaboration between RRU, the University of Victoria, Camosun College, and the Justice Institute of British Columbia.
The campus will cost $98 million. The City of Langford is planning to spend an additional $27.5 million to upgrade road infrastructure in the area.
With more young adults staying home longer along with their reluctance to commute over long distances, an investment into a local post-secondary campus is not just a good idea, but an essential requirement for the entire West Shore community.
More 18 – 29-year-old children are living at home with their parents than at any time since the Great Depression – a rising trend since 1960 due to affordability according to a 2020 Pew Research Center’s analysis of decennial census. Moving out of your family’s home at 18 may still be a reality for some Canadians, but it isn’t for many. Some stay at home for cultural reasons, and others stay for financial reasons.
With more kids living at home with their parents, more want to attend local post-secondary schools. For West Shore residence, this currently means long commutes.
“As a high school student in Langford, we’re faced with quite a long commute if we want to go to school at UVic or at Camosun, and that can really affect our decision with what school we go to,” said Connor Hogan, a Belmont High school student looking at his post-secondary options.
“When this new campus opens up, it will definitely help open some doors for us to study where we are, close to home.”
The province tracks West Shore’s direct-to-post-secondary transition rates, and West Shore’s stats of 38 per cent are considerably lower than the provincial average of 51 per cent.
This is a statistic the province, local post-secondary schools and the City of Langford intend to address with the new campus which will provide excellent educational options for students in Sooke, Langford, Colwood, View Royal, Metchosin and Highlands, and for southern Vancouver Island First Nations students.
“Providing post-secondary opportunity for Langford youth has been a top priority for council for many years,” stated Stew Young, mayor of the City of Langford in an interview with Business Examiner.
“This unique partnership will serve residents across the entire Westshore, remove barriers to access and provide pathways to higher learning for all.”
The goal for the new campus is to open the campus to 600 students by fall 2024 and reach full capacity of 1,300 students by 2035-36.
The Westshore is one of the fastest growing regions in Canada, with a population growth of nearly 50 per cent between 2001 and 2016, the West Shore is one of the fastest growing regions in Canada.
With that kind of growth, families are looking for places to live here. Contact Todd Mahovlich or Justine Connor if that’s you.