Access, persistence and financing: first results from the Postsecondary Education Participation Survey (PEPS)

The Postsecondary Education Participation Survey (PEPS) is a new survey designed to collect information on three important themes in Canadian postsecondary education: access to, persistence in and financing of postsecondary education. This report is organised around the three themes of PEPS. It first examines factors that previous research has shown to be related to access, such as parents' expectations, academic performance and parents' level of education. These factors are compared between those who have taken at least some postsecondary education and those who have not. It then looks at how many young adults continue on or complete their postsecondary studies. As a measure of persistence, the study looks at the status of students 18 months after starting their postsecondary studies. More specifically, it examines the postsecondary status as of February or March 2002 for young Canadians who first began their postsecondary education in September 2000. The final section of this report focuses on financing of postsecondary education. It presents total, educational and non-educational expenditures of current, full-time students for one academic year and looks at sources of funding for these students for one academic year.

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