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While Langara faculty generally appreciate the sense of diversity brought by students from around the globe, most of whom are Asian, Smith said the high percentage of foreign students, combined with reduced funding for domestic students, is creating difficulties for all young people attending B.C. colleges and universities.

Working with the Open the Doors B.C. campaign of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of B.C., Langara faculty and students have created graphic transit ads that depict an ethnic mix of B.C. students who are exhausted and anxious, weighed down by debt and the need to work to afford high rents and tuition fees.

“Put our money where our minds are,” says one campaign ad.

“Full-time job. Full-time school. How’s that working for you?” says another ad depicting a student who has fallen asleep at his desk.

Photo by Handout

The Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of B.C., which represents faculty and staff at colleges and teaching universities such as Capilano and Kwantlen, maintains that per capita funding for domestic B.C. students has dropped by 20 per cent since the B.C. Liberals took office 16 years ago.

Langara faculty says their campus has been hit worse than many others by the funding crunch, since the grant it receives from the B.C. government now covers only 33 per cent of its operating budget, compared to 56 per cent in 2001.

The faculty association does not blame Langara College administrators for assertively appealing to full-fee-paying foreign students in recent years, Smith said, since not doing so would have led to “faculty layoffs and fewer course offerings for students.”