The Universal Learning Institute (ULI), with campuses in Richmond, Vancouver, and Surrey, British Columbia, is one of the many smaller career colleges that does an admirable job of providing counsel and information to students. Students who are interested in seeking funding through the Canada Student Loans Program are required to attend a 90 minute information interview where they are informed of their rights, responsibilities, and obligations regarding student loans. The key to the effectiveness of this interview is that nothing is rushed. College staff view the interview as an opportunity for relationship building, as much as for providing financial counsel. Therefore, they take whatever time is necessary with the student.

This focus on relationship building is reflected in the classroom as well as in personal and financial counsel to the student. According to Lonnie Belfer, Vancouver Campus Manager, many of their students are “dealing with barriers [to student success], having not been in any kind of training environment since teen years, so it is very intimidating for them. If we can get their guard down (by building relationships with them), so they can be receptive to the learning, they can have success”.

While ULI is relatively small and does not have a full-time position dedicated to financial services, staff work hard to overcome this limitation, creating a family atmosphere, where students feel valued, and are comfortable approaching staff to seek advice. How effective has this approach to personal and financial counsel been? Two of the campuses report a student loan repayment rate of more than 90 percent, with one having a repayment rate in excess of 95 percent.