Study: Access to professional programs amid the deregulation of tuition fees

Tuition fees for professional programs in Ontario's universities soared during the late 1990s, nearly quadrupling in the case of medicine and almost tripling for law.

A new study has found that these big jumps were associated with substantial changes in the likelihood that students from different socio-economic backgrounds would enrol in medicine, law or dentistry programs.

The study found evidence that enrolment among Ontario university students from the most highly educated parents, whose parents held a graduate or professional degree, rose considerably in these programs following the substantial jump in fees.

Similarly, enrolment among Ontario students from less educated parents, whose parents had no post-secondary qualifications, also rose during this period, possibly as a result of increased student aid.

However, the only group that experienced declines in enrolment included Ontario students from middle educated parents, whose parents had post-secondary qualifications below a graduate degree.

While the study does not determine the reason for this decline, it is possible that some students in this group either could not afford or chose not to pay the higher fees, and did not qualify for as much student aid as students from less educated families.

These changes in enrolment patterns in professional programs by socio-economic background were most evident in Ontario, where the largest fee increases were observed. Provinces such as Quebec and British Columbia froze tuition fees during the period, and saw no change in enrolment by socio-economic background.

Other provinces saw moderate increases in tuition fees and moderate changes in enrolment patterns in professional programs across the socio-economic spectrum.

The study used data from the National Graduates Survey (NGS), which covered individuals who graduated from a university degree program in 1995 and 2000. They were interviewed two years later and asked about any programs in which they had enrolled since graduation, including professional programs.

Although the NGS contained no information on family income, it used the level of education of parents as an indication of socio-economic status.

All enrolment figures reported were adjusted to account for differences in sex, age, marital status, presence of children, as well as previous educational level, field of study, and scholarships.

Previous studies focused on tuition fee changes in undergraduate programs during the 1990s, and found no changes in enrolment patterns. The reason may have possibly been that the fee increases were much smaller and more gradual than what was registered in professional programs.

Increase in fees particularly large and sudden in Ontario programs

Tuition fees in Canadian undergraduate programs have been rising since the late 1980s. However, the increases were not evenly distributed, and they were particularly large, and sudden, in professional programs such as medicine, dentistry and law.

Between the academic years 1995/96 to 2001/02, tuition fees in Canada rose 80% in law and 160% in medicine, and tripled in dentistry. This was well above gains of about 50% in all undergraduate disciplines.

These increases were largely the product of trends in Ontario, where fees in professional programs were deregulated in 1998. This resulted in dramatic increases for medicine, where fees nearly quadrupled; dentistry, where they rose almost five-fold; and law, where they nearly tripled.

In contrast, Quebec and British Columbia continued to regulate fees over the same period. In British Columbia, tuition fees fell moderately, with declines of 3% in medicine and dentistry and 5% in law. In Quebec, fees remained stable in law, while increasing around 44% in medicine and 27% in dentistry.

Other provinces had already deregulated fees, or experimented with deregulation to varying degrees. This resulted in fee increases for Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, that lay somewhere between the two extremes of Ontario on the one end, and Quebec and British Columbia on the other.

Enrolment patterns by socio-economic background changed most in Ontario

During the period of rapidly rising tuition fees in Ontario professional programs, recent university graduates from the most well educated families, whose parents held a graduate or professional degree, became much more likely to pursue professional degrees.

Prior to the jump in fees, 2.4% of these students pursued a professional degree, compared to 5.2% after the fee increase. Capacity in professional programs increased during the period, possibly a result of the deregulation of tuition fees or increased pressures to train more professionals. This allowed more students to enter.

Ontario students from the least educated families, whose parents had no post-secondary qualifications, were also more likely to pursue professional degrees following the deregulation of tuition fees. Their likelihood of enrolment rose from 0.5% to 1.2% over the period.

Although the study did not determine the reason for this increase, it is possible that increased access to student aid may have played a role.

Students from less educated families could also have avoided the high tuition fees by enrolling in similar, but less expensive programs in other provinces.

The group of students that saw a decline in enrolment consisted of Ontario students whose parents had post-secondary qualifications below a graduate degree. They saw their likelihood of enrolment decline from 2% prior to the jump in fees to 1% after the fee increase.

It is possible that some students in this group either could not afford or chose not to pay the higher fees, and did not qualify for as much student aid as students from less educated families.

In Quebec and British Columbia, where fees remained relatively stable, there were no changes in enrolment patterns across the socio-economic spectrum. In particular, no declines in enrolment were registered among students in these provinces from middle educated parents.

The other provinces saw moderate increases in tuition fees and a moderate change in enrolment patterns across the socio-economic spectrum.

Students whose parents held a professional degree most likely to pursue a professional degree

Students whose parents held a professional degree were the most likely group to have pursued a professional degree themselves, according to the study.

For example, among the class of 2000, the proportion of these students who pursued a professional degree was 7.6 percentage points higher than students whose parents had no post-secondary qualifications.

This was a large difference, considering that fewer than 2% of students pursued a professional degree.

In contrast, students from the class of 2000 whose parents held a doctorate only had a 2.7 percentage point advantage over students whose parents had no post-secondary qualifications. The advantage for students whose parents held a master's degree was even smaller (1.1 percentage points).

The study also found that students with a parent holding a bachelor's degree had little or no advantage over students whose parents had no post-secondary qualifications.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5012.

The research paper The Impact of Tuition Fees on University Access: Evidence from a Large-scale Price Deregulation in Professional Programs (11F0019MIE2005263, free) is now available online. A short version of this study entitled Summary of: The Impact of Tuition Fees on University Access: Evidence from a Large-scale Price Deregulation in Professional Programs (11F0019MIE2005264, free) is also available. From our home page select Studies, then under Browse periodical and series choose Free and for sale. Under Series select Analytical Studies Branch.

Related studies from the Business and Labour Market Analysis Division can be found at Update on Analytical Studies (11-015-XIE, free) on our Web site.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Marc Frenette (613-951-4228; marc.frenette@statcan.gc.ca), Business and Labour Market Analysis Division.