**** Forthcoming in MESA book **** Access and Persistence of Students in Canadian Post-secondary Education: The Pre-MESA Project State of Knowledge (original) (raw)
Related papers
Whether to attend a post-secondary education (PSE) institution, which one to attend, and how to complete its degree or diploma requirements are extraordinary complex decisions faced my millions of young Canadians. Factors such as financial considerations, family background, information constraints and inherent ability all interact to determine whether or not young Canadians will attend, and ultimately graduate from, any one of the variety of PSE institutions across the country. Until recently, the study of these decisions in Canada has been hindered by a general lack of policy interest as well as the lack of appropriate data to adequately tackle these complex questions. This paper attempts to review the state of knowledge regarding access to and persistence in PSE in Canada, with emphasis on the experiences of students from low-income families, a group which has historically not benefited from publicly financed PSE as much as those from middle-and high-income families, yet whose participation is seen as fundamental to Canada's competitiveness in the global knowledge-based economy. The focus is on the empirical work done is this area in Canada, as well as the United States, since there are many similarities in the educational systems between the two countries and studies in these areas have generally advanced further south of the border. The purpose is to assist researchers in accessing the state of knowledge and seeking new avenues of policy-relevant research for Canada.
Access and Barriers to Post-Secondary Education in Canada: Evidence from a Longitudinal PISA Dataset
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2014
This paper exploits the longitudinal Youth in Transition Survey, Cohort A (YITS-A) to investigate access and barriers to post-secondary education (PSE) in Canada. The paper first looks at how access by age 21 is related to family background characteristics, including family income and parental education. The effects of the latter are found to dominate those of the former. Attention is then turned towards the 25 percent of youths who do not access PSE and the barriers they face. Twenty-three percent of this group state that they had no aspirations for PSE and 43 percent report they face no barriers. Conversely, 22 percent (5.5 percent of all youths in our sample) claim that "finances" constitute a barrier. Further analysis suggests, however, that affordability is an issue in only a minority of those cases, suggesting that the majority of those reporting financial barriers simply do not perceive PSE to be of sufficient value to be worth pursuing. Our general conclusion is that "cultural" factors are the principal determinants of PSE participation in Canada.
2007
This paper exploits the unprecedented rich information available in the Canadian Youth in Transition Survey, Sample A (YITS-A) to investigate issues related to access to post-secondary education (PSE). The questions we ask are basically two-fold: i) What are the various influences on access to PSE of an individual’s background, including more traditional measures such as family income and parental education, as well as a broader set of measures such as high school grades, social/academic “engagement, ” and other cognitive and behavioural influences? and ii) How does including such a more extensive set of variables than has been possible in previous studies change the estimated effects of the more conventionally measured family/parental influences (family income and parental education) on access to PSE, and thus indicate how much of the latter influences operate through (or otherwise proxy) the effects of the broader set of variables, thereby isolating the direct – as opposed to indi...
2008
This paper exploits the unprecedented rich information available in the Youth in Transition Survey, Sample A (YITS-A) to investigate issues related to access to post-secondary education (PSE). The release of these data make it possible since the cohort was age 19 at the time of the third wave of survey in 2004, and therefore at the point of making decisions with respect to participation in PSE. We find that parental income is positively related to university attendance, although its importance is diminished once parental education is included in the estimation. Similarly, the importance of parental education on university attendance is diminished once high school grades, academic participation, and standardized reading test scores (i.e., PISA results) are included. We argue that these background variables an important inclusion into the model of PSE choice. How these characteristics are developed and the mechanism(s) by which they are transferred from parent to child is likely where...
2023
, input, and insights regarding the content of this review, and the entire team at Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation for their support throughout the development of this report. The CST Foundation recognizes the importance of bringing together scholars, the community sector, and funders to work collaboratively towards improving equitable access to post-secondary education. We believe in the power of strategic collaborations to build a better future for Canadian families. We want to thank Humber College for supporting Dr. Cristina Guerrero, from the Bachelor of Child and Youth Care program, to contribute to this report. Her expertise as a high school teacher and a PSE professor provided valuable insights for understanding the experiences and process of PSE navigation. We would also like to extend our appreciation to the Wordswell Association for Community Learning and their staff for sharing their approach to community and youth engagement. Their contributions to this report reflect the importance of community support systems for students in communities from lower socioeconomic status, and the value of meaningful community collaborations. Finally, we would like to thank Sharma Queiser for her contributions editing this report.
2008
This paper exploits the unprecedented rich information available in the Youth in Transition Survey, Sample A (YITS-A) to investigate issues related to access to post-secondary education (PSE). The release of these data make it possible since the cohort was age 19 at the time of the third wave of survey in 2004, and therefore at the point of making decisions with respect to participation in PSE. We find that parental income is positively related to university attendance, although its importance is diminished once parental education is included in the estimation. Similarly, the importance of parental education on university attendance is diminished once high school grades, academic participation, and standardized reading test scores (i.e., PISA results) are included. We argue that these background variables an important inclusion into the model of PSE choice. How these characteristics are developed and the mechanism(s) by which they are transferred from parent to child is likely where future research, and resources, should be targeted. This research was funded by the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation through the Educational Policy Institute's MESA project. We cannot emphasize enough the outstanding research assistance that Yan Zhang provided throughout this project.
Access to Higher Education in Canada
Canadian Journal of Higher Education
This paper examines changes in access to higher education in Canada for individuals born in the first half of this century. The data show variations in attendance at, or graduation from, university or non-university postsecondary educational programmes by gender, language group, and socioeconomic background. The statistical analysis uses information from a large, nationally representative sample of Canadians. Results show a process of democratization at the postsecondary non- university level, but only a modest reduction in disparities at the university level.
Canadian federal policy and postsecondary education
… : Centre for Policy …
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a license from CANCOPY (Canadian ...