Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
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Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

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Survey of Canadian Career College Students - March 2008

10. Conclusions

Although students in the private career college system are diverse, they share some similarities that differentiate them from those in the public college system. Compared to public college students, a higher proportion of private system students are female. On average, private career college students are older than public college students, with a mean age of 29. Private career college students show less dependence on their parents or other family members and are less likely than public college students to live with or receive financial assistance from parents. One-third of private career college students support dependants under the age of 18.

Compared to public college students, private college students generally have fewer financial resources available to fund post-secondary educa­tion and greater financial non-education-related responsibilities. Private career college students often report low household incomes and little or no personal savings, either from previous employment or RRSPs. Less than one in ten anticipate funding their post-secondary education through earnings from current employment, despite the fact that approximately one-third are employed while in school, suggesting that employment income covers only basic needs. Adding to their financial burden, approximately one in five are single parents and one in ten are carrying pre-existing government student loan debt.

Despite these similarities, private career college students do not constitute a uniform group that differs from those attending public colleges. It is therefore important to stress that private career college students instead appear to make up a number of unique sub-groups, including:

  • older males, retraining after health concerns or
  • limited employment opportunities reduced the
  • viability of a previous career;
  • older females, retraining or reentering the work­force after a leave due to family responsibilities;
  • younger students attending programs that are not available in the public college system;
  • students, both young and old, interested in a program of short duration that will provide specific workforce skills. These students may or may not have previous degrees from college or university;
  • young students that intend to pursue additional college or university education after a first degree at a private career college; and
  • immigrants, retraining or changing careers because their education or qualifications are not recognized in Canada.

One-quarter of private career college students were born outside of Canada, with 11% immigrating to Canada after the year 2000. The higher proportion of immigrants in the private career college system contributes to a greater proportion holding PSE degrees prior to entry.

Based on the characteristics of students entering private colleges, it appears that the private college system primarily appeals to those looking to obtain workforce skills with limited time investment. For these students, the fact that the public college or university system is not their first choice is perhaps due to longer program durations.

Private career college students generally delay entry into post-secondary education. The majority choose to attend either a private or public college or university only after a delay of anywhere from one to over ten years after leaving high school. This delay is most commonly related to a lack of interest or career indecision, although financial and personal issues or family responsibilities, also impact the decision to pursue a post-secondary education among those attending a private career college. Despite the delay of entry into post-secondary education, private career college students have limited savings to draw upon to fund their education.

Overall, it appears that the private career college system complements the public college system. The private system offers short programs specifically geared towards quick entry into the labour market. Students accessing this system appear to be choosing specific programs that are shorter in dura­tion to obtain marketable labour skills without significant investment in post-secondary education.

As noted, private career college students have fewer resources available to finance a post­secondary education. Theses students, therefore, are commonly drawing upon the Canada Student Loans system or other government assistance to fund their private career college education. Private career college students are significantly more likely to utilize a student loan to finance their education than those attending a public college. Despite the increased reliance on student loans, the private career college students eligible to participate in this survey were utilizing EI or other government assistance at the same rate as those in the public system.

Current and anticipated debt levels are generally higher among private career college students than public college students. This reflects the considerably higher tuition costs for students attending a private career college, compared to tuition expenses for students attending a public college program. More private career college students have and anticipate having education-related debt and the amount of debt is greater. Moreover, private career college students are accru­ing debt at a higher rate than public college students, given that private career college programs are generally shorter in length than public programs. On average, private career college programs are seven to 12 months in length, compared to one to four years in public colleges.

Student loan reliance and debt is impacted by region of residence. Students living in the Atlantic provinces and Quebec are significantly more likely to indicate that they would be unable to attend the private college system without student loan assistance. Thus, these students more often have a student loan and had student loan debt at the time of the survey.

It does appear that the Canada Student Loan system is meeting the needs of most students in the private career college system, although recent immigrants are not accessing the Canada Student Loans Program at the same rate as other private career college students. However, recent immigrants are not more likely to be denied student loan funding when they apply.

Despite the fact that private career college students are heavily reliant on the Canada Student Loans Program, students in the system are not very knowledgeable about the federal and provincial loan systems or the Registered Education Savings (RESP) or Canada Education Savings Grants (CESG) programs. Private career college students' lack of understanding of the Canada Student Loans system is highlighted by the fact that many students attending non-CSLP-designated institutions indicate that they intend to utilize student loans to fund a portion of their program or that they are in receipt of a student loan for their current program. Given the lack of private career college student understanding, there is an opportunity for the Canada Student Loans Program and/or private career college administrators to provide these students with additional information on available products and services and debt management and loan repayment.

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Date Modified:
2008-04-07