Flashback to April of 2014, I had two months left of high school, seven university offers, and one question on my mind: which university should I call my home for the next stage of my life? Being a pre-business-school student, I whipped out the calculator and did some quick calculations for my top choices. Even with scholarships, fund, and savings factored in, staying here in Vancouver still minimized my costs compared to going out of the province.

The physical building to house the students attending Vantage College.

A recent article from the CBC was focused on the new Vantage College that is “under construction” right now. Vantage College is a 127.5 million dollar project only for international students. The project is supposedly not only a physical building but offers services like “round the clock support, custom curriculum, and lower class sizes.” This college is for international students who do not meet the required English scores but meet all other academic scores. What the CBC didn’t manage to capture was that Vantage College is actually a program and not only a building and the the economic benefits the project will bring about.

Although the 127.5 million is big a cost, it is only a sunk capital cost. This number will soon be paid for with projected variable revenues of $50,000 per year in tuition per student admitted, and 1,000 students a year. Vantage College sounds, in retrospect, quite profitable in the long run. As many locals already complain of high tuition prices, increasing international prices will not only allow the foreign to pay for themselves, but subsidizes the fees locals have to pay. Some Canadian schools (ie. McGill) and most American schools have actually adopted this strategy of higher tuition fees from international students to balance low fees for locals. In several years, this project may not only pay for its original required funds, but profits will include an increase in jobs and a decrease in domestic tuition fees.

Having played devil’s advocate for this post, I do believe that financially, Vantage College looks to be in the green, but onto another aspect: how will this idea look towards the public? Will more international students dissuade domestic students from applying? Does this spending correspond with the university’s core values, tarnishing its reputation?

Researched link:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ubc-s-vantage-college-canadians-need-not-apply-1.2826142