More Room to Follow Your Passion

During harsh economic times classes at private college fill up more.

“Jobs are harder to find in a recession,” said Martin Theiss, executive director at the Centre for Arts and Technology Okanagan (CATO) in Kelowna.

“So it gives students coming out of high school and people returning to school the opportunity for higher education and allows people to follow their passion rather than just into a job.”

CATO likes to brag that its programs are unique and its graduates so highly skilled and in demand they can usually find good jobs in their field quickly.

Most of these jobs are follow-your-passion type positions because CATO has programs ranging from digital filmmaking, event and promotions management, interior design, graphic and digital media design and network security to digital photography, fashion design and merchandising, audio engineering, 3D animation and veterinary assistant.

This growth means that CATO has just expanded into a specially built, 10,000-square-foot campus at the corner of Highway 97 and Sutherland Avenue.

It contains a 1,500 square-foot sound stage with all the equipment and props; an interior design lab and a high-definition video conferencing classroom with 18 seats and a computer at every seat so expert instructors can be beamed in from anywhere.

The school also keeps its 20,000 square feet in the adjacent Landmark 3 building.

“We have more students right now (380) than ever before,” said Theiss.

“It’s a testament to the school offering unique programs and being well-respected.”

As well, CATO’s offerings are so specialized and interesting that it’s attracted 40 per cent of its student body from outside the Okanagan.

There are also lots of mature students following their dream education and job and the school has beaten down gender stereotypes.

For instance, when CATO open here seven years ago, most of the high-tech courses were filled with male students.

Today in those same programs the split is more 50-50 men and women.

There are a few guys in the female-dominated interior design course, but the veterinary assistant and fashion programs are all women right now.

Guys are encouraged to enroll if they want to.

As a private college, CATO is more expensive than Okanagan College or UBC Okanagan because it doesn’t receive government funding.

Programs run nine to 24 consecutive months and the average tuition is $4,000 per quarter or $16,000 a year.
However, the school is accredited with the Private Career Training Institutions Agency so student loans, bursaries or grants can be used for its programs.

Students may also get subsidized educations on employment insurance or government programs.

CATO is owned by a group of mostly B.C. investors, including Theiss. Centre for Arts and Technology also has campuses in Halifax and Fredericton, N.B.

-Steve MacNaull, The Daily Courier