Low-income studnets deterred by social, not financial, factors: Statscan

‘Why are students from lower-income families less likely to attend university’

TESSA VANDERHART STAFF

“The income divide in university participation is largely the result of factors that are present well before most youth begin to consider university,” according to a Statistics Canada report.

In 2003, 31 per cent of 19-year-olds from the lowest-income quarter of families in Canada had attended university; 50 per cent of those from families in the highest-income 25 per cent of Canadians had.

“Why are youth from lower-income families less likely to attend university?” — released on Feb. 8, the day after the CFS National Day of Action for lower tuition fees — used data from Canadian 15-year-olds to find that low family income presents a social barrier to education.

The difference between students from the highest- and lowest-income quarter of families was attributed to lower performance on standardized reading tests and lower grades (attributed 34 per cent of the difference); lower levels of education in the parents of low-income youth (30 per cent) and lower educational expectations by parents (12 per cent).

According to the study, 9.5 per cent of all youth report that money was a factor in their decision to attend university — 13.4 per cent of lower-income youth versus 5.9 per cent of higher-income youth.

“It’s such a loaded question,” said Curtis Kehlar, a fourth-year philosophy student who says that knowing all of the facts is important.

“I hate to go middle-of the road, but I have to on this one.” Kehlar said he knows students who get by on student loans and those from better-off families who don’t go to school, adding that those who need loans “probably make it back”

“I probably would say it makes a difference if you come from a good background, I’d say you’re probably more likely to go — at first glance anyway.”

Manitoba has the lowest level of debt in the country, according to the Canadian Federation of Students. In 2004-05, Manitoba Student Aid reports that 7,721 students received Manitoba Student Loans with an average loan of $2,796, and 9,236 received Canada Student Loans, with an average loan of $4,302. Of students with Manitoba Student Loans, 52 per cent attended Manitoba universities. In 1999-2000, 10,112 students received Manitoba loans ($2,659) and 10,328 Canada loans ($4,021).

Non-repayable ACCESS bursaries were awarded to 224 students in 2004-05 (including 180 females, 136 aboriginals, and 128 single parents) for an average of $9,849.

Renee Saurette, a second-year fine arts student, said she thinks tuition is the main deterrent to attending university.

“A lot of people, even if they come from a lower background, they might still be motivated to come [to university], and that might drive them to work harder. So I think probably fees — people needing to work to come to university — would be a deterrent.”

At the U of M in 2005-06, 149 students came from Kelvin High School, 122 from Vincent Massey, and 126 from Fort Richmond Collegiate. Other schools sent fewer students: four from Elmwood enrolled at U of M, as did four from Gordon Bell, and three from Sturgeon Creek.

Next year, Sturgeon Creek Collegiate, with a primarily “vocational, at-risk” student population, will merge with Silver Heights Collegiate to offer French-immersion and International Baccalaureate programs and better prepare students for post-secondary education.

Sturgeon Creek counsellor Bonnie Robertson said that although the U of M’s statistic is deceptively low — another 10 students went to U of W from a gradating class of about 100 — most graduates need to schedule their academic goals around part-time jobs and commuting to school.

“That’s only the tip of the iceberg,” Robertson said. “Money is certainly an issue, no matter how many student-loans presentations you’ve been to — and it’s a readiness.”

The study considered only the education experiences of 19-year-olds, those students who go directly from high school to university. Many Sturgeon Creek students aren’t so-called sequential students, Robertson noted.

“It doesn’t mean that they’ll never go; they just couldn’t be sequential students,” she said. “I have students right now saying ‘I want to go. I just don’t want to go next year. I just need some time to, a) make some money and b) do other things.”

The 2005 National Graduates Study found that Canadian university students — Manitoba students in particular, and especially aboriginal Manitobans — were more likely to delay enrolment in post-secondary education than in the past.

The latest Statistics Canada study also notes that students living outside of commuting distance to a university are less likely to attend, particularly if they come from low-income families. A total of 794 students from high schools outside Winnipeg were admitted to U of M in 2005-06, from a total of 2,725 admitted students.