International students worried they won't be able to attend Holland College in the fall

International students from around the world are concerned they won't get the opportunity to study at Holland College this year.

About eight prospective students of Holland College came together to make a video, pleading with the school to consider allowing them to start later than 2021 so they don't have to reapply to go to the college in the next academic year.

Onyinyechi Kalu lives in Nigeria, and is hoping to come to P.E.I. to study journalism in the fall — but things are not looking good.

"That's not going to be possible, because Holland College gave us till the 28th of August, which is like next week. And we have yet to hear from [Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada]. So, I don't think it is looking positive."

Kalu said she applied for a study permit in June and hasn't heard back since.

"They've not requested for medicals or anything. And a lot of us international students have not heard anything from IRCC," she said.

"The pandemic has had a significant impact on Canada's immigration system, and we understand the frustrations of applicants at this difficult moment," the IRCC said in a statement to CBC News.

Holland College is not giving us any hope.— Onyinyechi Kalu

"We'll process complete applications submitted after May 15, 2021, as quickly as possible—but we can't guarantee that they'll get a final decision before the fall semester begins. Some applications take longer to process, such as those that are incomplete or require the officer to request more information from the applicant."

Kalu said other schools in Canada have given international students the option to defer their start date and she would like to see Holland College do the same.

"It really hurts. Seriously it hurts," Kalu said, adding she and other prospective students really want to study at the school.

"Holland College is not giving us any hope, they are just saying, if you can't come in by August 28th, you have to reapply next year, which is not fair."

Kalu said she applied and paid her confirmation fee already and is worried if she isn't able to go to school this year she will have to pay the fee again. According to the Holland College website, that fee is $500.

Kalu said she would like the college to allow some international students to start a few months late, offer online courses or let students join programs in January.

The college is meeting every few days to discuss the issue, said school president Sandy MacDonald — but it might be more difficult than last year to accommodate students not yet in the country.

"Last year, it was relatively straightforward because people who didn't have their study permits could study online and we were putting all our courses online for the most part this year. This year that's become a much greater challenge," MacDonald said.

"We're skills-based programming for most of that, for most of our programs. So, you have to be in the classroom getting the skills in the small class size. If you're not here by, you know, the fifth, sixth, seventh of September, you're going to quickly fall behind."

The story is different at UPEI.

"For those students who are unable to travel for September, IRCC has allowed them to take online courses until the end of 2021 without any negative impact on students' post-graduation work permit application," said Jerry Wang, director of the international student office at UPEI, in an email.

"In response, UPEI has developed a hybrid learning model to accommodate students in this situation."

UPEI is also offering international students the option to defer their intake until January if they are worried about online learning.

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