The illiteracy of the literate

The Illiteracy of the Literate: The Lack of Financial Aid Knowledge among Canadian University Students Canadian Alliance of Student Associations 2010dents The Canadian Student Survey is a project by the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, in partnership with the Council of Alberta University Students, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, and the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associ [...] The Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS) represents the interests of over 70,000 Alberta university students from the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary and the University of Lethbridge to the public, government and other post-secondary education stakeholders. [...] To get their full entitlement of loans, students have to borrow through both a provincial and a federal loan program, and while this process is not as cumbersome as it used to be, the rules and subsidies attached to the loans can differ significantly (as can the quality of the information provided to students about these loans). [...] Since the low-income cut-off in Ontario, for example, is $22,241 for the 2009-2010 academic year, and the mid-income cut-off is $40,094, it is likely that there are a large number of students who are missing out on this source of funding due to lack of understanding of the financial aid system. [...] The remainder of students are split evenly between the two remaining options, with a quarter of students believing that only full- time students may receive government loans and bursaries, and a quarter indicating that they did not know the answer to the question.