The hallways at St. Clair College are bustling with activity again as students return to the classroom.
Students are feeling relieved, frustrated, and discouraged after attending their first classes and learning how the rest of the semester will unfold.
Lester Laur is a first year mobile application development student. He's worried about the workload and the pace he'll have to learn.
"I am a little concerned. I am one of those people that need the extra time. I need the extra momentum in the semester to get myself through so I do feel a little pressured," says Laur.
Esthetician student Kaitlyn McFadden is concerned about the loss of hands-on time in the classroom.
"Our program is not something that you can like rush with theory. Like, you really need to know it in order to build a foundation, even the information and the prerequisites for second semester. We did not pay for a limited amount of classes, to only be rushed to learn the fundamentals of our whole career," says McFadden.
Many students are also frustrated with the loss of one week of their winter holiday.
"That really annoying because I mean I was supposed to be making money during that time and now I am going to be stuck in school. My vacations are cancelled, it just sucks. That's the biggest problem for me," says Jonathon Bauer, a first year student in the mobile application development program.
The students' winter break will now start on December 25. They will return to class on January 2, 2018 and the first semester will continue until January 20, 2018.