Follow-up Survey of Graduates

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Two out of five graduates from the class of 2000 who had left school owing money to government student loans had completely repaid their debt five years after graduation.

Of all graduates from a Canadian college or university in 2000, 56% had no debt from government student loan programs while 44% owed money to such programs. It is among this latter group that two out of five graduates had completely paid off their debt in 2005.

The proportion of graduates who have paid off their student loans varies according to the level of study. Graduates from master's and doctoral programs were most likely to have repaid their loans, with 46% having done so, compared to 42% for those from bachelor programs and 36% from college programs.

The average debt remaining in 2005 amounted to $8,900 for college graduates, and was practically the same for graduates with bachelor degrees ($14,400) and master's or doctoral degrees ($14,300).

Debt load, income and having a debt from a non-government source were some of the factors that could affect a graduate's ability to repay a student loan.

Graduates who still owed in 2005 were twice as likely to have an outstanding debt from non-government sources (60%) than those who had repaid their student loans (30%).

Moreover, the average debt from government student loans at graduation for those graduates who had paid off their loans by 2005, was approximately $6,000 less than that of graduates who still owed money: $12,800 compared to $19,400. The greatest difference was among university graduates. The difference in the average debt for those graduates who still owed money versus those who were debt free was slightly more than $8,000 for bachelor graduates and almost $10,000 for master's and doctoral graduates, and $4,000 for college graduates.

Overall, 9 out of 10 graduates were employed in 2005 whether they had paid off their loans or not. On the other hand, the total personal income in 2004 for graduates who had paid off their loans was 20% higher than that of their fellow graduates who still owed money. This relative difference was the same for bachelor graduates and for those with master's degrees or doctorates, but much lower (13%) for college graduates.

In addition, slightly less than half of the graduates who still owed money on their student loans reported having difficulty repaying these loans, compared to one out of five among graduates who had paid off their loans by 2005.

College graduates were more likely than bachelor graduates to experience difficulty in repaying their student loans, with the proportion reporting difficulty repaying being 10 percentage points higher than that of bachelor graduates.

Note: Data are from the Follow-up Survey of Graduates (Class of 2000) conducted in 2005. This survey is a follow-up to the National Graduates Survey. The analysis of student loans essentially covers government student loans and only includes graduates who did not pursue further education after they graduated in 2000.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5012.

For more information, to order data, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Client Services (toll-free 1-800-307-3382 613-951-7608; fax: 613-951-4441; educationstats@statcan.gc.ca), Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics.

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