Imagine you’re a few months away from graduation when you find out that you have to take four more exams. Even worse, the exams are each six hours long, said to be very challenging and are required to get the credential you need to continue in the industry you want.
This is the situation facing students in NAIT’s Advanced Carpentry Technology (ACT) program.
NAIT’s website describes the two-year program as an “alternative pathway into the carpentry trade.”
With the traditional carpenter apprenticeship route, students start by working in the industry. They complete four periods of 1560 hours then return to school once a year for eight weeks of classroom instruction. Once they finish all four periods and pass required theoretical and practical tests, they can earn their Journeyperson certificate or Red Seal — two accreditations that show an employee’s skill and credibility, says Apprenticeship and Industry Training (AIT), which certifies apprentices in Alberta.
The ACT program offered students the ability to front-load their training. After spending two years in school, they’d graduate with “all of [their] technical training completed,” which led those pursuing a Journeyperson or Red Seal to believe the only thing they’d need was their hours.
But late in Fall 2025, Dean of the School of Construction and Building Sciences Matthew Lindberg-Fowlow says NAIT was notified that students would also have to complete four practical assessments from AIT.
Now, many students are left with questions about their future in the industry.
NAIT and AIT had ‘differing perspectives’ on certification
The Advanced Carpentry Technology program was proposed in 2023, and Lindberg says the program was designed to “provide as many pathways for students completing the program as possible.”
“Some students would really want to pursue an apprenticeship after completing this program … many of the students might just be looking for these woodworking skill sets that would help make them employable in different areas within the sector,” he says.
When it launched a year and a half ago, Lindberg-Fowlow says NAIT believed students would only have to take AIT’s theoretical assessments to complete the apprentice pathway, based on the recognition letter they received from AIT.
“It’s that practical assessment that really was something that was not communicated from our perspective,” he explains.
“It’s fair to say that there was kind of some differing perspectives between NAIT and AIT around that practical assessment being a requirement for students.”
In an email to students on April 2, Associate Dean Alexandra Trovato also says that NAIT recognizes the practical requirement “had been understood differently by NAIT,” but that NAIT is “committed to supporting all students” interested in pursuing apprenticeship.
The email states that “NAIT is working closely with AIT to fully understand the scope and timelines of the required practical assessment(s).”
A representative from AIT declined to comment.
“There was kind of some differing perspectives between NAIT and AIT around that practical assessment being a requirement for students.”
Much more than a misunderstanding, Advanced Carpentry Technology students say
In a letter to NAIT’s President and CEO Laura Jo Gunter, students of the program say they are “victims of fraudulent misrepresentation regarding the accreditation and trade recognition claims associated with this program.”
“As students who relied on NAIT’s duty of accuracy and good faith in its program advertising … we deserve clear answers, recognition, resolution, and compensation if this is not resolved,” the 63 students who signed the letter say.
Murphy Milne, a first-year student who organized the letter, did not receive a response from Gunter.
“The issue itself isn’t that we have a problem with doing a practical assessment. It’s that we were never informed correctly about what we would be required to do,” she told the Nugget.
“It was never looked at. They weren’t even aware of these issues, and they’ve admitted they weren’t aware of them.”
“We communicated what we knew at the time to be real, and things have shifted, absolutely.”
Chris Murphy, a second-year student, called the situation and lack of communication a “complete and epic failure on NAIT’s part.”
“I’m older, I don’t have the time to wait and hopefully somebody figures this out,” he says.
Murphy, 47, decided to pursue carpentry as a second career and thought the program would offer better employment opportunities given his age.
“I wanted the knowledge all up front to go to companies and apply as a labourer at this age … this [program] was really appealing to me because I figured that would show that I had the dedication for this for any future employer,” he says.
Now set to graduate without the credentials he thought he’d have, Murphy says he wants nothing to do with NAIT anymore.
“I came into NAIT not expecting anything … but I made friends. I actually had a lot of fun, I was getting super excited to graduate and go to my convocation,” he says. “It’s just been one of the crappiest experiences ever.”
Students want answers, refunds from NAIT
Lindberg-Fowlow says that NAIT has been communicating with the NAIT Advanced Carpentry Technology students since November and trying to “provide as many opportunities for them to be as successful at these practical assessments as [we] possibly can.”
As far as Lindberg-Fowlow is concerned, the program’s description on the website is accurate. “When we take a look at the pathways that we work to create, especially in our skilled trades diploma, we have pathways that we’re working to create for graduates of these programs, if those are the pathways that they choose to pursue,” he explains.
“From a misled perspective, I’m not sure that that’s where we’re at. We communicated what we knew at the time to be real, and things have shifted, absolutely. And our commitment is to work with the students as we walk through this path together,” says Lindberg-Fowlow.
But for the impacted students, this isn’t enough. They want their money back.
“We deserve clear answers, recognition, resolution, and compensation if this is not resolved.”
“It’s pretty black and white to me. When you buy something as a customer and you don’t get what they said that you were going to get, you usually get a refund for that, right?” says Eryn Pidewerbeski, a first-year student.
“Like I didn’t get what you guys had told me I was going to receive from this, so I should be allowed to want a refund.”
And for older students like Murphy, the delay in getting started on his second career has left him feeling hopeless. “I really hope for my classmates, because they’re all mostly early 20s. I hope it’s figured out for them and that they can have a long and successful career,” says Murphy. “At this point, I want damages, honestly.”
NAIT’s website estimates only the tuition for both years of the program at $21,745 — a significantly higher cost than the traditional apprenticeship route, which costs $4,704 in tuition for all four periods.
An uncertain path for current and future Advanced Carpentry Technology students
Currently, NAIT has offered a two-week bootcamp over the summer to help prepare students for the assessments. NAIT will also pay the $150 fee associated with each practical for students intending on challenging them. As of April 20, Lindberg-Fowlow says that only nine second-years had expressed interest via a survey.
The survey sent to Advanced Carpentry Technology students asked about their interest in the offered bootcamp and which practical assessments they intend to take. It was sent on April 15, with an original deadline of April 17. The deadline was extended to April 24 at 12 p.m. after students expressed concerns with the quick timeline.
“It is simply an unfair timeline that has caused significant stress for students, especially given the lack of communication about which conversations are being held or what alternative solutions are being proposed,” said Milne in an email to the Associate Dean on behalf of the ACT students.
Milne, who is from the Northwest Territories, took the ACT program because she thought it would provide more stability while her family moved to British Columbia to build a farm.
“It offered me that flexibility and that security,” she says.
Now, her lease in Edmonton is ending and she is wondering how she will complete the bootcamp and assessments as an out-of-province student. “I could have been spending my time at the farm in BC supporting my family,” says Milne. “It just really messed up my whole plan.”
No dates for the bootcamp have been set, but an email from Lindberg-Fowlow to the students says that a “broad assessment review” of the program will likely be undertaken by the Alberta Board of Skilled Trades.
“I want to highlight that these students are still graduating. Their credential is still going to be awarded. This is an external accreditation piece that they may wish to pursue,” says Lindberg-Fowlow.
“We are working with the AIT and the Alberta Board of Skilled Trades to see if there’s an opportunity to review the current practice that’s in place. And I think that’s those conversations we’ll continue to have as we move forward through the summer.”
“I really hope for my classmates, because they’re all mostly early 20s. I hope it’s figured out for them and that they can have a long and successful career.”
With the program already waitlisting applicants for next year, a solution will need to come soon.
But for second-year students like Murphy, who intended on pursuing apprenticeship and eventually obtaining a Red Seal so he could open his own business before this situation occurred, the summer will be spent figuring out what to do next.
“At this stage in life, it’s dead in the water for me,” he says. “I was expecting to be back working. I have a family. I don’t have time to do this stupid bootcamp they are offering … I don’t have it in me to want to finish this off.”
Feature image via NAIT
