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Survey of Canadian Career College Students - March 2008

6. Program Financing

6.1 Tuition Costs

With the shortest program lengths, on average, Trades and Technical Training has the highest mean tuition across all programs at $19,289, followed by Design programs at $16,743. The lowest mean tuition is found in Other Service programs (mean $13,078).

Design (27%) and Other (31%) programs, compared to all other programs, most commonly have programs that cost above $20,000. With just over half of the programs costing $12,000 or less, Health (55%) and Other Service (55%) have the lowest programming costs.

Despite the fact that programming in Quebec and Atlantic Canada tends to be slightly longer than in other regions, tuition costs are highest in Ontario (mean $15,006) and British Columbia ($15,554), where programs generally last 7 to 12 months. Both regions more commonly have programs costing over $20,000 (Ontario 20%: British Columbia 17%) than other regions.

Table 6-1
Average Total Tuition Cost (All Years) for Private Career College Programs

6.2 Methods of Financing PSE

Students were asked to indicate which of 14 different income sources they would use to finance their program start to finish. For each source used they were also asked to provide the approximate amount received. Approximately half (53%) of private career college students access government student loans to cover the cost of their program. Other commonly used sources of income include parents/family or spouse (26%), EI or other government assistance (13%), private line of credit/loan (12%) and earnings from previous employment (10%).

By type of institution attended, a statistically significant greater proportion of students attending CSLP-designated institutions are accessing government scholarships/bursaries (10% vs. 5%) and school-administered private scholarships or bursaries (6% vs. 3%). Students attending non-CSLP designated schools show greater reliance on private lines of credit (14% vs. 12%) and earnings from current employment (9% vs. 8%). Students in the private system attending non-CSLP-designated institutions appear to be confused about the Canada Student Loans system as 42% anticipated using a student loan to finance a portion of their program.

Table 6-2a
How Current Education is Funded

Funding Resources	CSLP-Designated Institutions (n=10,884)		Non-CSLP-Designated Institutions (n=2,837)		Total (n=13,721)
	% Using Source	Mean Income from Source	% Using Source	Mean Income from Source	% Using Source	Mean Income from Source
Government loan	57%	$10,000	42%	$2,760	53%	$12,818
Parents/family/spouse	25%	$11,062	27%	$11,390	26%	$11,133
EI or other government assistance	13%	$14,407	16%	$11,671	13%	$13,745
Private line of credit/private loan	12%	$10,497	14%	$12,385	12%	$10,933
Earnings from previous employment	10%	$5,242	10%	$6,542	10%	$5,501
Government scholarship or bursary (non-repayable grant)	10%	$5,285	5%	$6,785	9%	$5,460
Personal savings, including RRSPs	9%	$6,834	9%	$8,025	9%	$7,078
Earnings from current employment	8%	$4,944	9%	$5,265	8%	$5,021
School-administered private scholarship or bursary	6%	$2,733	3%	$10,000	5%	$3,535
RESPs	2%	$7,219	1%	$8,024	2%	$7,290
Indian Band/INAC funding	3%	$11,172	4%	$8,367	3%	$10,281
Work-study program	1%	$5,984	1%	$12,031	1%	$7,954
Investment income (bonds, dividends, interest, etc.)	1%	$5,784	1%	$6,253	1%	$5,825
Co-op/work term	0.4%	$4,171	0.2%	$10,000	0.4%	$4,496
Numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding. Private n=13,721 (weighted data excludes don't know/no response)

It is important to distinguish between the incidence of use of various funding sources and the relative contribution of the various funding sources to a student's education. For example, while 53% of students utilize government student loans to fund their education at a private career college, the money received through student loans, on average, covers only 44% of the students' educational expenses. The remaining expenses are most commonly covered by parents, family or spouse, which, on average, cover 18% of educational expenses, and EI or other government assistance, which covers 12% of educational expenses. Table 6-2b, outlines the percent total of educational expenses covered by the various funding sources commonly used by private career college students.

Table 6-2b
Relative Funding of Career College Programs by Funding Sources

Funding Resources	% Using Funding Source	Total Funds from Source	% of Total Funds
Government loan	53%	$94,032,848.00	44%
Parents/family/spouse	26%	$38,998,899.00	18%
EI or other government assistance	13%	$25,290,800.00	12%
Private line of credit/private loan	12%	$18,673,564.00	9%
Earnings from previous employment	10%	$7,425,675.00	3%
Government scholarship or bursary (non-repayable grant)	9%	$7,015,843.00	3%
Personal savings, including RRSPs	9%	$9,116,206.40	4%
Earnings from current employment	8%	$5,628,092.60	3%
School-administered private scholarship or bursary	5%	$2,368,450.00	1%
RESPs	2%	$1,822,525.00	1%
Indian Band/INAC funding	3%	$3,947,904.00	2%
Work-study program	1%	$644,290.20	0%
Investment income (bonds, dividends, interest, etc.)	1%	$949,475.00	0%
Co-op/work term	0.4%	$220,308.90	0%
Private n=13,721 (weighted data excludes don't know/no response) Note: Totals will add up to more than 100% due to multiple responses.

Compared to students attending private career colleges (Table 6-2c), public college students have significantly greater resources at their disposal to fund their college education. Thus, public college students, compared to private college students, more commonly have funds from family (59% vs. 26%), personal savings (47% vs. 19%), government scholarships or bursaries (13% vs. 9%) and academic scholarships/bursaries (25% vs. 5%). Public college students are also significantly more likely to draw upon funds generated from working while in school (70% vs. 8%). The high proportion of career college students who were enrolled on a full-time basis can partially explain the level of incidence of in-study employment for this group relative to their public college system counterparts.

Table 6-2c
How Current Education Is Funded by Private and Public Institution

Funding Resources	Private	Public
	% Using Source	% Using Source
Government loan	53%	29%
Parents/family/spouse	26%	59%
EI or other government assistance (Public - Social/Income Assistance, Employment Insurance and government financial support for persons with disabilities)	13%	14%
Private line of credit/private loan	12%	18%
Government scholarship or bursary (non-repayable grant)	9%	13%
Personal savings, including RRSPs, including earning from previous employment	19%	47%
Earnings from current employment (Public - Work income or take home pay)	8%	70%
School-administered private scholarship or bursary (Public - Academic scholarship/bursary)	5%	25%
RESPs	2%	N/A
Indian Band/INAC funding	3%	3%
Work-study program (Public - Training grant)	1%	4%
Investment income (bonds, dividends, interest, etc.)	1%	N/A
Co-op/work term	0.4%	N/A
Private n=13,721 (weighted data excludes don't know/no response); Public n=7,438 Note: Totals will add up to more than 100% due to multiple responses.

Financial resources are also accessed differently by region of residence and program of attendance:

Students attending a career college in Quebec (70%) have the heaviest reliance on government student loans, followed by those in the Atlantic provinces (58%).
Parental or spousal contributions (16%) are significantly less in the Atlantic provinces, where EI or other government assistance contributes (25%) to a high proportion of students' financial resources compared to other regions (national average of 13%).
Students in the Trades or Technical Training are least likely to access a government student loan (45%), while those in Other Service (60%) are the most likely.
Students in Design (37%) and Other (41%) programs more frequently have parental or spousal contributions to their education.
EI or government assistance are most commonly received by students enrolled in the Trades or Technical Training (28%) and Media/Information Technology (22%).

Table 6-2d
How Current Education Is Funded by Region

Table 6-2e
How Current Education Is Funded by Program Type

6.2.1 Employment Status

6.2.1.1 Employment While In Program

While participating in PSE, most (63%) students at private career colleges are not working. The remaining 37% are employed either on a full-time (6%) or part-time (31%) basis. Students in the private system are less likely to work while in school compared to those in the public system. For example, compared to the 63% of private career college students who did not work while attending school, a lower proportion of public college students (42%) reported that they never or rarely worked while attending school.

Across regions, students in Quebec (54%) are more commonly employed while in school, as are students in Design (45%) and Health (42%) programs.

Table 6-3
In-Program Employment Status by Program and Region

Employed	Trades/ Technical Training	Design	Health	Media/ Information Technology	Other Service	Other	Total
Employed	25%	45%	42%	32%	38%	36%	37%
Not working	75%	55%	58%	68%	62%	64%	63%
Employed	Atlantic	Quebec	Ontario	Prairies	British Columbia		Total
Employed	31%	54%	38%	37%	39%	—	37%
Not working	69%	46%	62%	63%	61%	—	63%
Numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding. n=13,548 (weighted data excludes don't know/ no response)

Among those students that work part-time while in their program, the majority (92%) make less than $20,000 per year. The remaining students make $20,000 to $29,999/year (1%) or did not specify their income (7%), with the mean income from part-time employment being $7,947 per year (ranging by program from $7,227 to $8,718). There are no significant differences in how much students working part-time make across program or region.

Income levels for full-time employment are shown in Table 6-4 by region and program. Among those working full-time while in school, students in the Trades/Technical Training are earning the highest incomes, while those in Design earn the lowest. Students in the Atlantic and Quebec regions are also earning the least while employed full-time as they complete their studies. Thus, 79% in the Atlantic provinces and 74% in Quebec earn $29,999 or less although they are working full-time.

Table 6-4
Salary for Full-Time Employment

Full-Time Salary	Trades/ Technical Training (n=68)	Design (n=21)	Health (n=318)	Media/ Information Technology (n=282)	Other Service (n=103)	Other (n=106)	Total (n=898)
Less than $20,000	45%	64%	48%	47%	49%	47%	48%
$20,000 to $29,000	17%	21%	24%	27%	22%	24%	24%
$30,000 to $39,999	6%	3%	12%	10%	15%	15%	12%
$40,000 and over	25%	7%	11%	12%	10%	9%	12%
No response	7%	6%	6%	4%	5%	4%	5%
Mean Salary	$31,802	$20,123	$24,833	$25,833	$24,089	$25,288	$25,347
Full-Time Salary	Atlantic (n=141)	Quebec (n=56)	Ontario (n=314)	Prairies (n=175)	British Columbia (n=212)		Total (n=898)
Less than $20,000	59%	55%	42%	47%	47%	—	48%
$20,000 to $29,000	20%	19%	28%	23%	22%	—	24%
$30,000 to $39,999	5%	10%	10%	17%	13%	—	12%
$40,000 and over	8%	12%	15%	9%	13%	—	12%
No response	8%	4%	5%	3%	6%	—	5%
Mean Salary	$22,225	$24,146	$26,681	$25,457	$25,812		$25,347
Numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding. n=898 (weighted data includes don't know/ no response)

6.2.1.2 Pre-Program Employment

Prior to starting PSE at a private career college, less than half of the students (46%) were employed; of those not employed, 16% were not working, 13% were in school, and 9% were a stay-at-home parent or not working for another reason. The lack of pre-program employment may contribute to the small proportion utilizing savings to help finance their current program. Students currently studying in Trades/Technical Training (23%) and in Media/Information Technology (24%) are the least likely to be employed pre-program. Other program students were more often in school (21%) pre-program. Pre-program employment rates are the lowest among students residing in the Atlantic provinces (41%).

Table 6-5
Pre-Program Employment Status by Program and Region

6.3 Government Student Loans: Awareness and Access

Despite substantial reliance on government student loan programs to finance private PSE, students know very little about the various programs. The majority are not at all, very little or only somewhat aware of the federal government student loan program (81%), the provincial student loan program (75%) and the Registered Education Savings (RESP) or Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) (82%). Knowledge of Canada student loan programs is impacted by location, with students in the Atlantic provinces being most familiar with the federal (55% somewhat/very much) and provincial (49% somewhat/very much) programs and students in Quebec being least aware of the RESP/CESG (48% not at all knowledgeable).

Among the various loan programs, students are most familiar with the provincial loan program. Knowledge of the loan programs also varies by program of attendance:

Students in Design (provincial 25%; federal 27%; RESP/CESG 42%) and Other (provincial 25%; federal 25%; RESP/CESG 42%) are significantly more likely to indicate that they are “not at all” knowledgeable about the provincial student and federal student loan programs, as well as RESP/CESG
Students attending institutions that are not CSLP-designated have lower levels of awareness of Canada's loan programs'.
Students attending non-CSLP-designated institutions are more commonly “not at all” aware of the federal (27% vs. 19%) and provincial (25% vs. 19%) student loan programs.

Table 6-6
Knowledge of Financial Programs

Students were asked if they had ever applied for a government student loan and if they had been denied funding. Overall, just under half (47%) of the students enrolled in a private career college have never applied for a student loan, 44% have applied and received funding and 8% were denied.

Quebec (66%) and Atlantic (68%) students more commonly apply for student loans compared to students in other regions (53% nationally), as do students in Other Service programs (63%). Conversely, students in Trades/Technical Training (47%), Other programs (42%) and Design (47%) less frequently apply for government student funding. When they do apply students in Design are significantly more likely to be denied funding (29%), compared to any other program.

Figure 6-7

n=13,139 (weighted data excludes don't know/ no response)
Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding

Generally, students entering a private career college program do so without pre-existing government student loan debt. Among the students surveyed, only 22% had previously received a student loan and only 13% had a balance owing on that loan.

Figure 6-8

n=13,100 (weighted data excludes don't know/ no response)

6.4 Predictors of Student Debt

Regression analysis was utilized to predict student debt. Based on the analysis the following variables are significant predictors of student debt. In order of greatest impact, predictors of student's debt among private career college students are:

Education level of the mother: the higher the mother's education level, the greater the student's debt.
Household income: the greater the household income, the smaller the amount of student debt.
Location: the further east you reside in Canada, the higher the amount of debt you have.
Average overall grade: students with higher grades in the last year of post-secondary studies, prior to commencing private post-secondary studies, have greater debt. This is most likely a function of the length of time pursuing post-secondary studies, i.e., students with higher grades are more likely to remain in post-secondary education longer and accrue greater debt.

6.5 Funding Non-Recipients

Not surprisingly, students that do not access student loans tend to have greater financial and family resources at their disposal to support their postsecondary education. These students, compared to students in receipt of a student loan, more often wait to enter the post-secondary system and/or have obtained previous post-secondary education prior to beginning their current private career college program. Thus, these students are more likely to have either a certificate/diploma (32% vs. 22% of those with loans) or a university Bachelor's degree or above (14% vs. 10% of those with loans). Reasons for waiting to enter PSE do not generally relate to financial difficulties but instead to lack of interest (20% vs. 17% of those with loans). Both parents are more likely have a university degree among funding non-recipients (33%), compared to those with loans, where only 27% have two parents with PSE.

Interestingly, students that had not accessed the Canada loan system were more likely than those with loans to have attended school in another country. Previous education appears to influence their decision to enter the private career college system, as these students are statistically more likely to be enrolled in PSE to gain recognition of foreign education/training or to study at an advanced level in the same field.

Given that they are not accessing the Canadian loan system, these students are less knowledgeable about the system, more often indicating that they are “not at all” knowledgeable about: the federal government student loan program (31% vs. 8% those with loans) and the provincial student loan program (31% vs. 7% those with loans). They are however, as knowledgeable about RESP or CESGs.

These students' limited access to the Canada loans system is not just related to their current program. Students with no current loan are less likely to have applied for a loan in the past and when they apply they are more frequently denied funding (35% vs. 8% of those with loans). Should they have received a loan, a balance is less often owing on the loan (51% have a balance on their loan vs. 67% of those with loans).

Table 6-9
School Attendance Outside of Canada

Schooling	Without Loans	With Loans
High School	17%	10%
College	6%	4%
University	10%	6%
n=13,721 (weighted data includes don't know/ no response)

Students without student loans are more often enrolled in programming with either lower or higher tuition. Tuition is more frequently less than $6,000 (15% vs. 6% those with loans) or $18,000 or more (20% vs.17% those with loans).

Programming of Canada Student Loans non-recipients is being funded by parents/spouse (35% vs. 15% those with loans), private line of credit (15% vs. 11% those with loans), personal savings (12% vs. 7% those with loans), and earnings from previous employment (12% vs. 8% those with loans). Current work is not a major source of funding, since students without loans are more often unemployed while in school (66% compared to 57%).

Gross household income, however, is more often above $40,000 (39% vs. 23% those with a loan) and earned by parents (39% vs. 35% those with a loan) or spouse/common law partner (24% vs. 18% those with a loan).

Impact of Immigrant Status

Only 11% of the students surveyed or 1,533 students had immigrated to Canada after the year 2000. Generally, these students had completed some form of post-secondary education prior to entering the private career college system. Almost two-thirds (68%) had some previous post-secondary education, with many holding a college/university diploma or certificate (23%), or a Bachelor's (31%) or university degree above Bachelor's level (12%). The high level of education of this group is in sharp contrast to the private career college average, in which only 34% of students had some kind of post-secondary education prior to enrolling in a career college. Looking at Canadian-born students, only 26% enter the career college with a post-secondary degree, and 48% of those immigrating before 2000 have a degree. These students are therefore entering the private career college system to gain recognition for the foreign credentials (17%) or to change their careers (34%), since their education is or is not recognized in Canada (14% of 34%). Other reasons cited by this group for enrolling in a career college include to study at a more advanced level in the same field (15%) or to gain practical skills to augment their academic qualifications (11%).

Recent immigrants are not accessing the Canada Student Loans Program at the same rate as other students. Only one in three (30%) have applied for a student loan or are in receipt of a student loan for the current program (31%). Not surprisingly, they are less knowledgeable about the student loan system both federally and provincially. Approximately half have little or no knowledge of the federal (46%) and provincial (46%) student loan program or the Registered Education Savings Plan or Canada Education Savings Grant (57%).

To fund the complete private career college program, recent immigrants are most likely to rely on a government loan (40%) and parents or family (27%). Many seem unsure as to how they will finance their program, since 23% did not indicate they would be using any income source to fund program. Both recent (18%) and other immigrants (23%) were more likely to have discontinued studies due to lack of funds, compared to Canadian-born students (13%).

Table 6-10
Characteristics of Recent Immigrants, Other Immigrants and Non-Immigrants

Characteristic	Recent Immigrants	Other Immigrants	Non-Immigrants
Proportion of student responses	11%	11%	78%
% home language - English or French	36%	52%	97%
% citing career college as first choice	64%	67%	74%
% with a university degree	43%	20%	6%
Top Three Reasons for Enrolling in Current Program
First	Change career field/pursue a job (20%)	Change career field/pursue a job (36%)	Change career field/pursue a job (38%)
Second	Gain recognition for foreign education/training (17%)	General interest (16%)	General interest (27%)
Third	Study at an advanced level/gain further skills (15%)	Study at an advanced level/gain further skills (11%)	Gain specific practical skills (9%)
n= approx 1,535 Recent Immigrants, 1,425 Other Immigrants, 10,605 Non-Immigrants

As detailed in Table 6-10, recent immigrants (i.e., those immigrants who arrived in Canada in 2000 or later) appear to be a relatively distinct sub-group compared to both other immigrants (those who arrived prior to 2000) and the career college non-immigrant population. It appears in Table 6-9 that:

the education level of recent immigrants is markedly higher than that of both longer term immigrants or non-immigrants. The proportion of recent immigrants with a university degree (43%) was well above that of other immigrants (20%) or non-immigrants (6%);
the main reason for attending a career college also differed for recent immigrants relative to the other immigrants/non-immigrants;
while the majority of recent immigrants indicated that their career college was their first choice (64%), the proportion who cited that their career college was their preferred choice was lower than that of other immigrants (67%) or non-immigrants (74%); and
the limited language ability of recent immigrants (only 36% reported speaking English or French at home) may have contributed to their inability to attend programs at their institution of choice.

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Date Modified:: 2008-04-07

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