Student Financial Aid and Financial Aid Literacy

Student Aid is a key piece of Canadian social policy. By providing a mixture of loans and grants, governments can improve access to education. Collectively, the CanEd team has been working on issues of student financial assistance for close to 30 years, and our expertise in the area is recognized nationally as well as internationally. Our knowledge of provincial systems of higher education is unparalleled. It is demonstrated through our work on the MESA project (www.mesa-project.org), our forthcoming State of Student Aid series, and our work in creating simplified systems of student aid assessment. We also have expertise in international student aid systems and have a long track-record of conducting international comparative fieldwork.

Alex Usher’s work in the area has defined the field in Canada. His foundational work on the first two editions of The Price of Knowledge remains an influential reference for understanding student aid at both a national and provincial level. Furthermore, his 2004 publication Are the Poor Needy? Are the Needy Poor? led to a necessary policy re-assessment of the role of need in the distribution of need-based aid and created the knowledge base for today’s $450 million/year Canada Student Grant. Miriam Kramer’s recent research has focused on student financial aid literacy, which included an exploration of debt and risk aversion, and their impact on access and persistence in post-secondary education. This research incorporated a particular focus on low-income and other marginalized groups of students.