A day after the College of New Caledonia announced an unexpected projected surplus of $1.8 million, the province announced a further $151,600 in funding for a couple of courses.
The money is going to two programs: electrical as well as the popular power engineering option.
In Saturday's press release, the Ministry of Advanced Education said the Prince George college has received $755,000 in trades training seats and $1.9 million for trades training equipment since 2014.
It's the latest in a string of one-time funding announcements from the ministry for the college, after vocational programs got a bump at four of its regional campuses totalling about $400,000: Quesnel was handed $77,000 for Camp Cook and Essential Office Skills; Fort St. James received $64,000 for graduates of a pilot program, Enhanced Construction Craft Worker, to get more training; Vanderhoof received $68,825 for Industrial Mechanic (Millwright) course and Burns Lake was handed $146,291 for university transfer courses, in the areas of business and nursing, which are academic upgrades offered over two years.
In April, the province also announced it would put $302,000 towards CNC's ongoing Digital Delivery Initiative, its model to offer more options through an online course delivery program.
The college has already been running a pilot in Prince George and Quesnel campuses, but has been working on final designs before it offers it at other campuses next year.
Last spring Northern Gateway donated $250,000 and TransCanada donated $150,000 to go to the DDI program at the college.
Last year, the ministry gave CNC $268,000 in one-time funding to save the dental assisting program. In the fall, the college said it had found room in the budget to keep that program for another year, but would continue the suspension of its two-year dental hygiene program for the second year.
As for Saturday's announcement, Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training Minister Shirley Bond said the province is seeing a demand for skilled workers and it's important to make "critical trades training seats" available in B.C."
"This additional funding for CNC will support students who want to train and hopefully stay and work here in northern B.C.," Bond said in a statement.
CNC president Henry Reiser, said the trades seat funding comes "at a great time."
"We are seeing lots of trades people returning to the college right now to gain additional training.
"As a result, this investment will increase our capacity to help more students develop their skills and further their careers," he said in a statement.
Update: The post was updated to clarify $150,000 of the $250,000 donated by TransCanada last spring was earmarked for the DDI program.
