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Survey of Canadian Career College Students - March 2008

7. Student Debt

7.1 Incoming Debt Load

Few students enter their program with pre-existing government loan debt. As shown in Table 7-1, only 13% of the private career college students entered their program with student loan debt, with the amount of this debt generally being less than $10,000.

Table 7-1
Pre-Program Government Student Loan Debt

Debt Amount	Pre-Program Government Loan Debt %
None	87%
$1 - $5,000	4%
$5,001 - $10,000	3%
$10,001 - $15,000	2%
$15,001 - $20,000	1%
$20,001 - $30,000	1%
Over $30,000	0%
Amount not specified	2%
Numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding. n=13,721 (weighted data includes don't know/ no response)

Students were asked if, at the time of the survey, they had any education-related debt and whether or not they were in receipt of a government student loan for the current private career college program. In total, 5,617 students or 41% were in receipt of a government student loan for their current private career college program, with students in Health (44%) and Other Service (49%) most commonly in receipt of a student loan. It is important to note that for some schools students were surveyed at the beginning of their program and had applied but were unsure if they would receive a student loan.

Table 7-2
Proportion of Students in Receipt of a Government Student Loan for Private Career College Program

Among those that received institutional or government financial assistance, approximately half (51%) reported that they would not have been able to attend their program without the assistance. Students in the Atlantic provinces (63%) and Quebec (57%) are more heavily reliant on this kind of assistance and more likely to indicate that they would be unable to attend PSE without it. This also holds true for students in Trades/Technical Training (56%) and Media/Information Technology education (60%) programs.

Table 7-3
Reliance on Institutional and/or Government Financial Assistance to Attend Program

At the time of the survey, 35% of the private college students indicated that they had no education-related debt and 43% indicated that they had no current government student loan debt (Table 7-3). Compared to public college students, however, private students more commonly have incurred education debt while in their program. Furthermore, private college students have higher debt loads while in school. For example, 31% of private career college students have a debt of $10,000 or above, compared to only 15% of public college students.

Debt incidence while in school varied by province and program:

Students in the Atlantic provinces (64% with debt) and Quebec (63%) more frequently had education-related debt compared to those in Ontario (53%), the Prairies (56%) or British Columbia (54%).
Design (54% with debt) and Other Program (49%) students less often had educational debt at the time of the survey relative to those in Trades/ Technical Training (53%), Health (62%), Media/ Information Technology (55%) and Other Service (61%).

Table 7-4
Current Education-Related Debt

Debt Amount	Total Current Education-Related Debt %		Total Current Government Student Loan Debt %
	Private (n=13,721)	Public (n=7,438)	Private (n=13,721)
None	35%	47%	43%
$1 - $5,000	10%	17%	6%
$5,001 - $10,000	15%	14%	11%
$10,001 - $15,000	12%	8%	8%
$15,001 - $30,000	15%	10%	8%
Over $30,000	4%	3%	1%
No response	9%	1%	23%
Numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding. Private n=13,721 (weighted data includes don't know/ no response); Public n=7,438

Overall, few private career college students (15%) have ever needed to discontinue studies due to a lack of funds. There was, however, a statistically higher probability that students enrolled in Media/ Information Technology (18%) programs and those living in Ontario (17%) or British Columbia (18%) had discontinued studies due to lack of funds.

Table 7-5
Previous Discontinuation of Studies Due to Insufficient Funds

7.2 Anticipated Debt

Students (83%) generally anticipate some level of debt by the time they complete their post-secondary studies at a private career college. Overall, approximately one in three expect debt of $10,000 or less. Just under half expect a greater debt of between $10,000 and $30,000. A minority (8%) expect the debt they incur to be over $30,000. British Columbia (79%) students are less likely to anticipate education debt compared to those in the Atlantic (83%), Prairies (84%), Quebec (85%) or Ontario (84%). Anticipated debt does not differ by program of study.

Relative to students in public colleges, those enrolled in private institutions more often anticipate debt and the debt is expected to be at a higher level at the time of graduation. Forty percent (40%) of public college students anticipate having no education-related debt upon program completion, compared to only 17% of private career college students.

Anticipated education-related debt is not expected to be composed exclusively of government student loan debt; thus, while 83% of students anticipated education-related debt, only 43% anticipate government student loan debt at program completion. These expectations may be unrealistic given that 53% of students surveyed indicated that they would use government student loans to finance some portion of their current PSE and only 37% are employed while in school.

Table 7-6
Anticipated Total Education-Related and Government Student Loan Debt at Time of Program Completion

Debt Amount	Total Anticipated Education-Related Debt %		Total Anticipated Government Student Loan Debt %
	Private (n=13,721)	Public (n=7,438)	Private (n=13,721)
None	17%	41%	29%
$1 - $5,000	7%	11%	5%
$5,001 - $10,000	22%	12%	12%
$10,001 - $15,000	19%	8%	10%
$15,001 - $30,000	27%	16%	13%
Over $30,000	8%	11%	2%
No response	0%	1%	29%
Numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding. Private n=13,721 (weighted data includes don't know/ no response); Public n=7,438

7.3 Perceptions of Debt

Among the 5,700 students or 42% of students that anticipate having student loan debt at the end of their program, half (50%) anticipate it will take between three and seven years to repay the debt. Many are unsure about how long it will take them to repay the student loan debt. Public college students are similar to private career college students in their expectations regarding the amount of time it will take to repay their student loan debt (Figure 7-4).

Figure 7-7

Numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
Private n=6,091 (weighted data includes don't know/ no response); Public n=4,425

As with public college students, private career college students do not appear overly concerned about educational debt or having sufficient financial resources to complete their education (see Table 7-8).
For example:

Only one-quarter (25%) of students are very concerned that they will have insufficient funds to complete their PSE, whereas one-quarter (28%) are not at all concerned. The remaining half are either a little (15%) or somewhat (24%) concerned.
Approximately one in three are very concerned about the amount of debt they will incur by the time they graduate (32%) or their ability to repay that debt (28%).

By program, students in programs related to Trades/Technical Training and Media/Information Technology appear to be the least concerned about debt incurred through PSE:

Compared to all other programs, those in Trades/Technical Training (73%), Media/ Information Technology (27%) and Other (26%) more commonly indicate that they are not at all concerned about the debt they will incur by graduation (Design 24%, Health 21% and Other Service 21%).
Students in these three programs are also less concerned about their ability to repay the debt. Compared to all other programs, students in Trades/Technical Training (32%), Media/ Information Technology (28%) and Other (28%) more commonly indicate that they are not at all concerned about their ability to repay the debt in a reasonable timeframe (Design 26%, Health 23% and Other Service 23%).

Regionally, students differ between the Atlantic provinces/Quebec and the Prairie provinces/Ontario:

In both Quebec and the Atlantic students express greater concern over the amount of debt they will incur (Atlantic 36% and Quebec 40% very concerned) and their ability to repay the debt (Atlantic 31% and Quebec 30% very concerned).

Conversely, in the Prairie provinces and Ontario students more commonly indicate they are not at all concerned about the amount of debt potentially incurred (Prairies 26% and Ontario 26% not at all concerned) or the time to repay such debt (Prairies 29% and Ontario 28% not at all concerned).

Table 7-8
Education-Related Debt Concerns

School Type	Statement	Don't Know/ NR (%)	Not at all (%)	Very little (%)	Somewhat (%)	Very much (%)
Private	Having sufficient funding to complete your post-secondary education	8%	28%	15%	24%	25%
Public		2%	31%	20%	20%	28%
Private	The amount of debt you might incur by the time you graduate	12%	24%	11%	21%	32%
Public	The amount of debt you might incur by the time you graduate	3%	30%	15%	17%	35%
Private	Your ability to repay that debt within a reasonable timeframe	13%	26%	11%	22%	28%
Public		4%	34%	13%	18%	31%
Private n=13,721 (weighted data includes don't know/ no response); Public n=7,438

7.4 Program Debt Load and Impact on Future PSE Decisions

Regression analysis was utilized to predict participation in future PSE. Based on the analysis it was found that a student's propensity to return to school following the completion of a private career college program is influenced by a number of factors.

Students more commonly intend to pursue additional education if they are young in age or if they are not confident about obtaining a job after graduation.

As expected those with higher amounts of anticipated debt at the end of the degree are more likely to indicate they intend to begin working. Those students with higher levels of education prior to attending a private career college program are also more likely to seek employment post-program.

By program, students in Other Service and Other Programs more commonly indicate that they will return to school after completing a private career college degree than those enrolled in programs classified under Trades/Technical Training, Design and Health or Media/Information Technology.

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Date Modified:: 2008-04-09

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