A Step Behind

A report released yesterday by the Canada Millennium Scholarships Foundation asserted that student aid may not be going to those who need it most. The report indicates a fundamental shift from needs-based grants to tax credits and rebates, a move that tends to favour the more affluent and leave the truly needy further behind.

That aid does not go to the most needy students should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the discussion on student aid south of the border. Calls for reform of the student-aid system have been made by various groups and individuals, including Margaret Spellings, the U.S. Secretary of Education, and the Rethinking Student Aid study group. Both outline the importance of reducing the enrolment gap between more affluent and less privileged students.

Both also outline the importance of grants. Increases in aid in the U.S. have often seen subsequent increases in grants, making the accessibility issue primarily one of background (ie. who receives the grants). And this is why Millennium Scholarship's results may come as a surprise: our accessibility issue remains very generally a financial one.

Which puts us a step behind. And when we're behind a country where a "sharp rise in inequality was largely due to an educational slowdown", it's not a pleasant thought.