Study: Is postsecondary access more equitable in Canada or the United States?

Household income plays a much stronger role in determining whether a student pursues a university education in the United States than in Canada, according to a new study.

In the United States, 63% of high school students in the top income quartile (the 25% of households with the highest incomes) attended university shortly after high school, compared to only 15% in the bottom income quartile (the 25% of households with the lowest incomes).

In Canada, the gap was much narrower, as only 46% of students from households in the top income quartile attended university, but 24% of students in the bottom income quartile pursued a university education.

The university access gaps in Canada and the United States held up even after differences in other factors were taken into account, such as parental education, sex, visible minority status, immigrant status, and local unemployment rates.

The lower university participation rate among students from disadvantaged backgrounds in the United States compared to their Canadian counterparts may be related to a lack of affordable options available to some US students.

For example, about one out of every three universities in the United States is privately funded and far more expensive to attend than public universities. This leaves US students with fewer affordable options than their Canadian counterparts.

Specifically, only 51% of high school students in the United States have access to a public university within their community, compared to 83% of Canadian students. Even when a public university is available locally to US students, tuition fees are 31% higher than in Canadian universities, on average.

Although the gap in university attendance between children from high and relatively low income families was lower in Canada than in the United States, overall a higher percentage of US students attended university shortly after high school (39% compared to 33% in Canada)

Regarding college participation, the study found that household income also matters more in the United States. However, income is less of a factor in determining whether a student goes on to college compared to university in both countries.

The study also found that the correlation between university participation and factors such as parental education, sex, and membership in specific visible minority groups was more or less the same in both countries.

This release is based on a research paper that compares the likelihood that students from different socio-economic backgrounds in Canada and the United States will participate in university or college shortly after high school.

The results are based on Statistics Canada's Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics and the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics' National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort. The analysis examined the socio-economic background of students aged 14 to 16 years old in 1996, as well as their participation in university or college until 2001, when they were 19 to 21 years old. Since it normally takes an additional year to attend university in Ontario and Quebec, students aged 20 to 22 years old in 2001 were examined in these provinces.

University and college participation rates were examined by income quartile (groups consisting of one-quarter of the student population ranked according to their parent's income in their country). Other factors such as parental education, sex, and whether the student was a member of a specific visible minority group were also examined.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3889.

The research paper Is Post-secondary Access More Equitable in Canada or the United States? no. 244 (11F0019MIE2005244, free) is now available online. From our home page select Studies, then under Browse periodical and series choose Free and for sale. Under Series select Analytical Studies Branch.

Related studies from the Business and Labour Market Analysis Division can be found at Update on analytical studies reseach on our Web site (11-015-XIE, free).

For further information or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Marc Frenette (613-951-4228, marc.frenette@statcan.gc.ca), Business and Labour Market Analysis Division.