The territorial government is giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to Yukon students to travel to Outside institutions to study courses that are available at Yukon College, a college study shows.

The college compiled a report entitled Yukon Grant Recipients in 2005-06: Where are They and What are They Studying.

According to the document, approximately 25 per cent, 280, of the 1,118 students who received the territory's Yukon Grant and Student Training Allowance in 2005-06, including extra money as a travel allowance, are studying courses that are available in the Yukon.

'The majority of students who received the Yukon Grant in 2005-06 either took up studies at Yukon College, or left the territory to pursue studies that are not available here,' the report says.

'This leaves a substantial minority (over-one quarter) who may indeed be studying outside the Yukon in programs whose equivalent is available at Yukon College,' the college report states.

A total of 66.1 per cent of students receiving the grants were studying in other areas of Canada, including 25 per cent in Alberta and B.C. respectively, and 2.5 per cent were studying overseas.

According to the report's author, Dawn Macdonald, the information used to compile the document was obtained from the Department of Education's advanced education branch.

It involved 1,118 students who were receiving the Yukon Grant or the government's training allowance.

The Yukon Grant and Student Training Allowance, according to the Yukon government (YTG), provides students with an average of $4,498 per year and is available to students for up to five years of study.

The level of the grant, according to Department of Education spokesperson Clea Ainsworth, is about $1,600 to $1,900 more for students choosing to go outside the territory than for those who elect to stay here.

The 30-year-old Yukon Grant, and the allowance, according to the YTG, are for full-time post-secondary level studies and must be used at an approved institution.

In an interview last week, former Yukon College president Sally Webber said she believes the money being given to students to study Outside when courses are available here could be better spent.

'I think that money could be better invested in expanding degree opportunities within Yukon College,' Webber said.'I think we're exporting money that could be reinvested here to the advantage of many more.'

Webber said Yukon College has been recognized by Outside institutions. Any additional funds in the government's post-secondary education budgets should be focused on increasing the number of courses that would lead Yukoners to a degree in whole or in part at Yukon College, she added.

'I think that in the discussion in the future of Yukon College that the expansion of degree options in an incremental fashion is what's needed. A university and a dream of a university is a good decade away,' she said.

'I think that in the meantime, we've demonstrated in the Yukon that we can do an excellent job of university education and what we need is to provide more variety and more depth. I think we need to expand here.'

According to Jean Karlinski, of the British Columbia Council on Admissions and Transfer, there are several hundred courses available at Yukon College that transfer directly into B.C. institutions.

'Yukon College has been a member of the transfer system (in B.C.) since 1993 and has course-to-course transfer arrangements with universities and university colleges.

'Yukon College has 219 transferable courses in 37 different subject areas in the B.C. admission guides,' Karlinski said.

If the courses are in the guide, she added, they are transferable.

Dr. Terry Weninger, the acting president of Yukon College, said last week he would also like to see more students at the college, but would like to see them attend the institution by choice.

' ... I would rather Yukon College be available by choice, rather than some regulatory requirement,' he said.

Asked whether he believes giving students grants to study Outside when the courses are available here, Weninger said that is not a question for an educator.

'It's a political question and therefore needs to be responded to by the people who are responsible for that aspect of the program.'

He could not support any changes that limit a student's choice, he added.

Acting NDP Leader Steve Cardiff said while he does feel the Yukon Grant and Student Training Allowance programs need reviewing, he cannot advocate for changes to the program that would limit students'choices.

'The Training Allowance and the Yukon Grant have not been looked at for quite some time,' Cardiff said. 'We need to look at the way the grants are administered.'

The grant, however, is an important part of the education system, and choice for Yukon students should not be limited by finances, Cardiff said.

'It boils down to freedom of choice. If programs are available here, it's their choice if they want to pursue them here.'