The more things change-- : Undergraduate student living standards after 40 years of the Canada Student Loans Program

The most notable changes to the student body since 1964 are: ! females, once very much in the minority, have become the ma- jority ! educational opportunity has increased as a smaller proportion of the student body comes from the top income quartile and a greater proportion comes from each of the other three income quartiles. [...] Figure 1 and Figure 2 compare father’s highest educational attainment of university students received a high to the educational attainments of the population as a whole (as calculated school diploma in in the census closest to the date of the student survey). [...] What matters in terms of standard-of-living analysis is not the ab- solute level of income, but the level of income relative to the population as a whole. [...] Over its lifetime, the following significant changes have occurred in the undergraduate student population: ! females, once very much in the minority, have become the ma- jority ! students over the age of 23 are more common, but the median age of students has only increased by one year ! a smaller proportion of the student body comes from the top income quartile and a greater proportion comes from [...] There have been changes to student finances too, including: ! a sharp drop in the proportion of income obtained through summer employment ! a sharp drop in the proportion of income obtained through parental contributions ! a sharp increase in the proportion of income obtained through part-time work during the school year Over the forty years ! a sharp increase in the proportion of income obtained