Lots of newbies as students descend on UBCO and Okanagan College

KELOWNA – If you a see a young person walking around looking a bit lost in the next few weeks, give them a break — they might be one of over several thousand new students descending on Kelowna for the 2016-2017 school year.

UBC Okanagan registrar Fred Vogt said the university expects to register about 8,500 students this fall and while many are returning or already here, about 1,350 will be arriving in town for the first time, trying to find a place to live and find their way around.

“About 20 per cent of the new students came direclty from a high school in the Okanagan before coming to UBCO. The other 80 per cent, about 1,350 came from the rest of Canada and the world.”

Numbers this year won’t be confirmed until November 1 but he expects a slight increase of about a hundred students over last year.

Okanagan College registrar Jane Muskens said tentative projections are up overall for the multi-campus institution but the Kelowna campus in particular is doing well.

“I don’t have hard numbers yet but Kelowna is just booming,” she said. The college doesn't confirm numbers until the second week of school.

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