Overview

Abstract (English)

The Youth in Transition Survey allows identification of decision points from 1996 to 2003 at which a youth who has just completed secondary school (CEGEP in Quebec) either accesses university in the next academic year or takes another path. Beyond a set of social and economic factors that affect the access decision as expected, there is only very weak evidence that a higher level of tuition in a province alters the probability that a student, having just completed high school or CEGEP, continues into university. The most compelling evidence of a tuition barrier to university access comes from a sample where neither parent has a university education. Although such evidence has a number of interpretations, it does suggest that the policies in place over this period were reasonably effective at removing financial barriers and that new policy efforts around access to university from high school should focus on lower-income students and non-tuition factors in access decisions from university to high school.

Abstract (French)

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