This Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) report focuses on international higher education financing, discussing the concept of 'targeted free tuition' -- the idea that, while tuition fees backed by income-contingent loans can improve access, they still do not do enough to help people from the very poorest households, who are typically the…

Since the start of the global financial crisis a little over two years ago, many concerns have been raised on how it might affect funding to higher education and whether or not it might hasten moves toward greater cost sharing. While, globally, some steps have been taken in this direction, in most countries, hard decisions have yet to be taken on…

With the global recession in full effect, post-secondary education in Canada is about to face some very significant challenges. The purpose of this report is to outline the likely main effects of this global recession on the Canadian post-secondary education (PSE) sector, as well as suggest a series of measures that governments can take to help…

In 2006 the Educational Policy Institute released the first edition of "Beyond the Sticker Price: A Closer Look at Canadian University Tuition Fees." The report presented a new way by which to look at the prices and costs associated with university tuition, an alternative to the annual tuition fee report produced by Statistics Canada…

At some point every August, Statistics Canada releases its annual tuition fee report. Statistics Canada's numbers are accurate, so far as they go. The weighted provincial and national fee totals accurately reflect the amount of tuition charged by institution. And yet, the tuition report is at the same time a completely inadequate tool for…

This paper describes a looming crisis in Canadian student financial assistance. It begins by summarizing the known evidence with respect to student financial assistance. It notes that many studies have emphasized the central importance of grants targeted to low-income students as a means to expand of access to post-secondary education, but that…

This report looks at the affordability of public 4-year post-secondary education in 50 US States and 10 Canadian provinces. Public 4-year post-secondary education was found to be more affordable in the United States on five of the six affordability measures in the report; on the sixth, the two countries were tied. In general, in the United States…

The reasons that some high school graduates choose to continue their studies and others do not are not well understood. Certainly there is universal agreement about the benefits of post-secondary studies accruing to both students and society as a whole. Increasing levels of education are associated with, among other things, better job…

There was a major change in Canadian student aid in the late 1990s, due largely to a package of measures adopted by the Government Canada as part of its "Canada Opportunities Strategy". At the time, what aroused the most comment was the creation in 1998 of the $2.5 billion Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation (Foundation). But while…

This study is one part of a two-part inquiry into subsidies for post-secondary education in Canada. Governments in Canada spend over $4 billion each year in transfers to individuals for the purpose of post-secondary education. Roughly half of this money goes out in need-based loans and grants, while the other half goes in "universal"…

This study is one part of a two-part inquiry into subsidies for post-secondary education in Canada. Based on a combination of administrative and survey data, the study estimates the distribution of student loans and grants by family income quartile. The estimates suggest that roughly 40 percent of all loans and grants go to students from families…