Who borrows, and how much? Student borrowing across post-secondary pathways in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

The development of cost-efficient pathways is a topic of increasing political and scholarly interest across many North American jurisdictions. It has been suggested that ‘seamless’ transfer pathways can provide financial savings to both students and taxpayers. However, such claims are typically based on hypothetical cost calculations, as opposed to empirical analysis. Through this study, we model the relationship between student pathways and borrowing behavior in Ontario, Canada–the country’s most populous province–using Statistics Canada’s novel Education and Labour Market Linkage Platform (ELMLP). Our models produce little evidence that touted transfer pathways systematically reduce either (i) students’ propensity to borrow from the Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP), or (ii) the total amount that graduates end up borrowing from the program. We identify the implications of these findings for both policymakers and scholars of social stratification.