Youth-in-care tuition waiver program expands to include trades training
B.C. government to cover trades training tuition of former youth in care
The B.C. government is expanding its former youth-in-care tuition waiver program to include trades training.
"As a society we need to step up," said Advanced Education Minister Melanie Mark in announcing the new program.
"For former youth in care, this tuition waiver program can mean the start down a rewarding new path," she said.
Today's announcement is limited to training programs delivered by union trainers in the construction trades.
It expands the existing program which provides tuition waivers at all 25 post secondary schools in the province.
Since September of 2017, 335 former youth in care have benefited from the provincial tuition waiver program.
The tuition waiver program was estimated to cost $2 million in the 2018 B.C. budget and is open to youth who were in care for at least two years and who are between the ages of 19 and 26.
According to the Industry Training Authority, a B.C. Crown corporation, one out of four tradespeople will be retiring in the next decade.