Question Scans

Question Scans

Question 11: Are lower income families averse to financing post-secondary education by borrowing?

Overview

The objective of this question scan was to locate literature that examines the role of debt aversion pertaining to lower income families’ financing of their children’s post-secondary education. Utilizing applicable search terms and databases, research was carried out by the Canadian Council on Learning to identify and document relevant literature and resources devoted to debt aversion among lower income groups.

An initial scan of four databases yielded 75 potentially relevant articles. Subsequent examination of the abstracts reduced this number to 50; just six articles related specifically to lower income families. In fact, in a paper prepared for the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Fund, A Family Affair: the Impact of Paying for College or University, Hemingway and McMullen (2004) state “no data or studies were found that documented the PSE-related debt of Canadian parents.” In light of this finding, this scan includes research addressing low-income groups as well as research where income level is unspecified.

The majority of debt aversion research related to financing post-secondary education appears to emanate from the United States. Many articles illuminate how families and individuals manage and make decisions relating to the fiscal realities of financing an education. Some authors suggest that financing education has become a matter of effectively using financing strategies (i.e. loans, part-time study, two- or four-year programs) (Hartle, 1994; Hilmer, 1998).

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