This qualitative pilot study introduces and reflects on early development and implementation of the Zero Fee Tuition (ZFT) program in the rural, oil and gas town of Drayton Valley, Alberta, Canada. This innovative, primarily municipally funded program, implemented in 2019, provides local students with up to $5,000 in free tuition for select…

The COVID-19 pandemic poses financial challenges for students worldwide, especially for those in higher education where free and universal access is not guaranteed. Students in developed economies, a long-neglected group for pandemic studies, are not exceptions. The motivation of this study is to examine subjective financial well-being of…

This report shares data on college resources in Ontario as they relate to: (1) College system revenues and expenses; (2) Trends in college funding; (3) Human resources trends; and (4) Student financial aid. Like many organizations around the world, Ontario's colleges had to adapt to a challenging and unpredictable environment during the pandemic.…

This report shares data on college resources in Ontario as they relate to: (1) college system revenues and expenses; (2) trends in college funding; (3) human resources trends; and (4) student financial aid. Among the highlights are: (1) In 2018-19, college system revenues totalled almost $5.5 billion. Grant revenue from all sources accounted for…

This paper draws upon a case study of a campus-community partnership program in Ontario that delivers tuition-free college courses to low-income adult learners in community hub locations. By co-locating college classrooms in existing neighbourhood gathering places (i.e., a community centre and a public library), our research explores whether…

To contribute to the 50th Anniversary Issue, this scholarly article will review the literature on Canadian higher education tuition fees over the past 50 years, focusing on the major theme of higher education planning, and the role higher education research has played in the policy-making environment. Examining both the French and English language…

While international student mobility has received much examination, intranational student mobility is a lesser-studied area. Data shows that residents of the four Easternmost Canadian provinces are more likely to travel outside of their home province to undertake university studies than other Canadians. Beginning in the mid-1990s, Memorial…

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended public education systems around the world. Schools are shut, children are at home, and teachers and parents are anxiously waiting for what comes next. In British Columbia, trustees in many school districts are also considering budget cuts for the 2020-21 school year in advance of an expected and precipitous drop…

The amount of tuition paid by international students to British Columbia (BC) public school districts in the 2017-18 school year reached $256,829,094. That is an increase by nearly $15 million compared to last year. This represents about 5% of total district revenues provincially, but the bulk of gains are concentrated in just 10 districts in…

The purpose of this study is to outline a new approach to the comparative analysis of student finance systems based on social rights, an approach widely applied in other areas of social policy. It focuses on rights codified in national legislation and financed by central governments, and the collection of indicators measuring formal eligibility…

This report shares data on college resources in Ontario as they relate to: (1) College system revenues and expenses; (2) Trends in college funding; (3) Human resources trends; and (4) Student financial aid. Among the highlights are: (1) In 2019-20, college system revenues totaled $5.5 billion. Grant revenue from all sources accounted for only 34…

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…

First-time entrants to tertiary education are required to make interconnected decisions about their field of study, the fees they will pay and the application requirements they are prepared to face. Their choice of programme and institution will be influenced by the costs and entry criteria. The decisions they make about what to study and where…

In 2015, the Government of British Columbia (BC), Canada, reversed a long-standing mandate to provide tuition-free Adult Basic Education (ABE) to all adults. Drawing upon internal government policy documents and inter- and intra-ministerial communications obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) tools, key policy documents, social media…

This paper provides insight on how postsecondary students' financial situation was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Results are based on the recent Statistics Canada crowdsourcing data collection completed by over 100,000 postsecondary students between April 19 and May 1, 2020.