Persistence and graduation indicators of postsecondary
Education Level

Persistence and graduation indicators of postsecondary

Abstract

This fact sheet explores the association between parental income and the pathways of young adults in postsecondary education for students who began their studies in the 2012/2013 academic year. Students from low-income families have previously been shown to have lower rates of educational accessNote 1 and attainment.Note 2Note 3Note 4 This fact sheet focuses on persistence and graduation indicators, which are now released annually, and furthers the analysis of these indicators by adding a parental income quartile dimension.Note 5 Overall, the findings provide the following insights:

  • Students in the highest parental income quartile remained enrolled (persisted) and graduated at higher rates than students from the lowest parental income quartile for all selected educational qualifications and groupings. The differences in indicators by the level of parental income were more notable for the graduation rates than for the persistence rates.
  • For students who graduated, those in the highest parental income quartile graduated as fast or faster than students in the lowest parental income quartile for all selected educational qualifications and groupings, though these differences were generally small.

These findings are consistent with similar studies regarding postsecondary experiences of students by socioeconomic status.

Introduction

Postsecondary educational attainment is associated with many benefits. These include increased employment rates,Note 6 higher annual employment earnings,Note 2Note 7Note 8 more substantial life savingsNote 9 and various health and social benefits.Note 10 Therefore, it is important to understand factors that contribute to the successful completion of postsecondary programs. This fact sheet uses postsecondary administrative data and income tax information to determine the association between postsecondary student pathways and the level of parental after-tax income. Although Statistics Canada produces annual education indicators on the pathways that students take during their postsecondary studies, this is the first time that parental income quartile groups have been used to produce such indicators, addressing an important knowledge gap.

Methodology


Study population

The study population for this fact sheet consists of all new students who began postsecondary studies in the 2012/2013 academic year in one of the following five educational qualifications:Note 11 college-level certificates, college-level diplomas, undergraduate degrees, master’s degrees, and doctoral degrees.Note 12 Students were considered “new” if they had not been previously enrolled in the same educational qualification within the last two academic years. Students above the age of 36 at the end of 2012 (under the age of 16 years at the end of 1992, the first year of available tax information) are excluded from the analysis. Only Canadian citizens and permanent residents, at the time of enrolment, are included in this analysis. As a result of limited data availability, the Ontario college data could not be used and was excluded from the analysis. The complete methodology for the indicators is outlined in the Persistence and graduation indicators of postsecondary students, technical reference guide.

Parental income

This fact sheet organizes persistence and graduation indicators by parental income quartiles.Note 13 The following steps were taken to compute the parental income quartile for each student in the study population:

  1. Using the T1 Family File (T1FF) from the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform (ELMLP), the after-tax incomeNote 14 of the student’s parents was selected for each year between the student’s ages of 16 and 25.Note 15 For example, if the student was 16 years old in 2005, the after-tax income of their parents would be selected for the years 2005 to 2014.
  2. The average of the student’s after-tax parental incomeNote 16 between the ages of 16 to 25 was then computed. This value is referred to as the “average after-tax parental income”.

Parental income quartiles were computed at the total study population level (all ages, all genders).Note 17

As shown in Table 1, between 78.4% (doctoral degree) and 85.9% (undergraduate degree) of new students had available parental income information.














Table 1

Count of 2012/2013 new students, by selected educational qualification and availability of parental income information

Table summary

This table displays the results of Count of 2012/2013 new students. The information is grouped by Educational Qualification (appearing as row headers), All students, Parental income available, No available parental income and Proportion with parental income available, calculated using count and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Educational Qualification All students Parental income available No available parental income Proportion with parental income available
count percent
College-level certificate 19,160 15,530 3,630 81.1
College-level diploma 56,420 47,140 9,280 83.6
Undergraduate degree 174,800 150,200 24,600 85.9
Master’s degree 24,610 20,400 4,200 82.9
Doctoral degree 4,250 3,330 920 78.4

There are several reasons why a student may not have had available after-tax parental income information in a specific taxation year. Most notably, the after-tax parental income information can only be determined for students identified as childrenNote 18 on the T1FF of the ELMLP for the specified taxation year in which they filed their taxes. In any given taxation year, a student will be identified as a child if either a) their parents received federal child benefitsNote 19 in that taxation year or b) the student filed their taxes at their parents’ address during that taxation year. In addition, to have sufficient information to be integrated into the analysis, a student must have filed their taxes during the specific taxation year. It was determined that postsecondary students are most likely to file their taxes from the same address as their parents (and therefore be identified as a child) between the ages of 16 and their mid-twenties. This is when they are most likely to have sufficient income to file their taxes, without moving away from home.

Any student who does not have available after-tax parental income information for at least one year out of the ten years that they are between the ages of 16 and 25 receives a value of “no available parental income” for their parental income quartile.Note 20 “At least 1 year” was selected to limit the number of students in the study population who would receive a value of “no available parental income” for their parental income quartile. However, the general conclusions were consistent if “at least 3 years” was instead used as the exclusion criterion.

Data source

Statistics Canada, in collaboration with the provincial and territorial ministries of education, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), and other stakeholders, has developed the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform (ELMLP). The ELMLP allows longitudinal integration of administrative data related to education with other data sources to create anonymized, customized datasets for analytical purposes. The ELMLP includes anonymized information from the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS), the Registered Apprenticeship Information System (RAIS) and tax data from the T1 Family File (T1FF) that can be integrated to study the pathways of students and apprentices, their transitions to the labour market and outcomes over time.

PSIS provides detailed annual information on enrolments and graduations from Canadian public postsecondary institutions (universities and colleges) by the field of study and certain demographic variables. PSIS data do not provide information on students’ income or their parents. However, some information is available in administrative data sets such as tax data files.

The current study uses PSIS and tax data to determine the association between parental income and persistence and graduation for young adults in the 2012/2013 entry cohort of selected educational qualifications. The 2012/2013 entry cohort was selected because it allows for a sufficient number of observational years required to produce the graduation indicators.


Persistence rates

The persistence rate is defined as the percentage of the new student cohort that was still enrolledNote 21 (full-time or part-time) in the educational qualification in which they initially enrolled, in subsequent years after first entry. Chart 1 shows the persistence rate one year after entry for undergraduate and doctoral degree students (all ages and all genders), the two educational qualifications with a long enough duration to measure persistence. The persistence rates in Chart 1 are grouped by educational qualification and parental income quartile.

Persistence and graduation indicators of postsecondary

Data table for Chart 1












Data table for Chart 1

Table summary

This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 1. The information is grouped by Educational Qualification (appearing as row headers), Lowest quartile, Second quartile, Third quartile, Highest quartile and No available parental income, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Educational Qualification Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Highest quartile No available parental income
percent
Undergraduate degree 86.3 86.7 88.7 91.0 83.0
Doctoral degree 92.8 91.7 94.0 95.2 91.3



The highest persistence rates were observed for students in the highest parental income quartile for both educational qualifications. Tables 2a to 2b show the persistence rates disaggregated by gender and age.














Table 2a

Persistence rate one year after entry for undergraduate degree students, by gender, age groups and parental income quartile, 2012/2013 entry cohort

Table summary

This table displays the results of Persistence rate one year after entry for undergraduate degree students. The information is grouped by Age and gender (appearing as row headers), All students, Lowest quartile, Second quartile, Third quartile, Highest quartile and No available parental income, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Age and gender All students Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Highest quartile No available parental income
percent
All ages, all genders 87.4 86.3 86.7 88.7 91.0 83.0
Men 86.4 85.3 85.9 87.3 89.5 82.4
Women 88.2 86.9 87.3 89.7 92.2 83.5
15 to 24 years old 88.0 86.8 87.1 89.0 91.2 84.1
25 to 36 years old 81.2 80.8 82.7 83.5 84.8 77.6












Table 2b

Persistence rate one year after entry for doctoral degree students, by gender and parental income quartile, 2012/2013 entry cohort

Table summary

This table displays the results of Persistence rate one year after entry for doctoral degree students. The information is grouped by Gender (appearing as row headers), All students, Lowest quartile, Second quartile, Third quartile, Highest quartile and No available parental income, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Gender All students Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Highest quartile No available parental income
percent
All genders 92.9 92.8 91.7 94.0 95.2 91.3
Men 92.0 92.3 95.0 92.1 94.6 88.9
Women 93.8 93.2 93.0 95.6 93.6 91.7

Tables 2a and 2bNote 22 show that students in the highest parental income quartile persisted at higher rates than students in the lowest parental income quartile, for both educational qualifications and for all groupings. For undergraduate degree students, the difference in persistence rate between the highest and lowest quartiles is largest among women (5.3 percentage points). The difference in persistence rates between students in the highest parental income quartile and students in the lowest parental income quartile is less notable for doctoral degree students.

Graduation rates

The graduation rate, measured at a given number of years after the fall of first enrolment, is defined as the percentage of an entry cohort that had completed their specified educational qualification within that time. The measurement years for the graduation rates differ by educational qualification and are specified in Tables 3a to 3e. These measurement years are consistent with previous Statistics Canada releases and are the typical program duration of the educational qualification. Chart 2 shows the graduation rate for students (all ages and all genders). The graduation rates in Chart 2 are grouped by educational qualification and parental income quartile.

Chart 2 Graduation rate by selected educational qualifications and parental income quartile, all ages and all genders, 2012/2013 entry cohort

Data table for Chart 2















Data table for Chart 2

Table summary

This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2. The information is grouped by Educational Qualification (appearing as row headers), Lowest quartile, Second quartile, Third quartile, Highest quartile and No available parental income, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Educational Qualification Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Highest quartile No available parental income
percent
College-level certificate 59.0 62.9 64.4 64.0 60.6
College-level diploma 43.9 47.6 49.3 52.8 40.9
Undergraduate degree 40.2 44.7 47.7 49.5 40.2
Master’s degree 56.1 55.9 58.0 61.6 54.3
Doctoral degree 32.5 38.1 33.7 42.2 30.4



For all educational qualifications, the graduation rate (as measured at the time of typical program duration) for the students in the highest parental income quartile is higher than the graduation rate for the students in the lowest parental income quartile. This difference is largest for students in a doctoral degree program, where the graduation rate for the students in the highest parental income quartile is 9.7 percentage points higher than for those in the lowest parental income quartile. A similar magnitude of the difference is observed for students in an undergraduate degree program (where the difference is 9.3 percentage points) and students in a college-level diploma program (where the difference is 8.9 percentage points). These differences in graduation rates between students in the highest and lowest parental income quartiles are larger than those exhibited for the persistence rates.

Tables 3a to 3e show the graduation rates disaggregated by gender and age.














Table 3a

Graduation rate one year after entry, for college-level certificate students, by gender, age group and parental income quartile, 2012/2013 entry cohort

Table summary

This table displays the results of Graduation rate one year after entry. The information is grouped by Age and gender (appearing as row headers), All students, Lowest quartile, Second quartile, Third quartile, Highest quartile and No available parental income, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Age and gender All students Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Highest quartile No available parental income
percent
All ages, all genders 62.2 59.0 62.9 64.4 64.0 60.6
Men 62.3 58.5 63.2 64.2 64.1 59.3
Women 62.2 59.6 62.5 64.7 63.9 61.5
15 to 24 years old 61.5 57.7 62.3 63.9 64.5 57.3
25 to 36 years old 64.2 61.7 65.0 66.3 63.9 64.7














Table 3b

Graduation rate three years after entry, for college-level diploma students, by gender, age group and parental income quartile, 2012/2013 entry cohort

Table summary

This table displays the results of Graduation rate three years after entry. The information is grouped by Age and gender (appearing as row headers), All students, Lowest quartile, Second quartile, Third quartile, Highest quartile and No available parental income, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Age and gender All students Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Highest quartile No available parental income
percent
All ages, all genders 47.2 43.9 47.6 49.3 52.8 40.9
Men 44.9 40.8 45.2 46.3 50.0 39.4
Women 49.0 46.1 49.4 51.9 55.8 41.9
15 to 24 years old 45.5 41.1 45.5 47.6 51.8 38.2
25 to 36 years old 55.9 54.6 60.6 62.8 61.5 48.3














Table 3c

Graduation rate four years after entry, for undergraduate degree students, by gender, age group and parental income quartile, 2012/2013 entry cohort

Table summary

This table displays the results of Graduation rate four years after entry. The information is grouped by Age and gender (appearing as row headers), All students, Lowest quartile, Second quartile, Third quartile, Highest quartile and No available parental income, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Age and gender All students Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Highest quartile No available parental income
percent
All ages, all genders 44.8 40.2 44.7 47.7 49.5 40.2
Men 37.3 33.0 37.1 39.2 41.8 33.5
Women 50.4 45.6 50.0 54.1 56.0 44.8
15 to 24 years old 43.5 38.6 43.2 46.6 48.6 38.0
25 to 36 years old 59.6 56.9 61.7 67.0 72.4 51.9














Table 3d

Graduation rate two years after entry, for master’s degree students, by gender, age group and parental income quartile, 2012/2013 entry cohort

Table summary

This table displays the results of Graduation rate two years after entry. The information is grouped by Age and gender (appearing as row headers), All students, Lowest quartile, Second quartile, Third quartile, Highest quartile and No available parental income, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Age and gender All students Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Highest quartile No available parental income
percent
All ages, all genders 57.3 56.1 55.9 58.0 61.6 54.3
Men 53.2 52.4 52.2 52.0 56.3 53.6
Women 60.0 58.6 58.4 62.1 65.2 54.8
15 to 24 years old 58.5 57.6 56.5 59.3 60.9 57.0
25 to 36 years old 55.8 54.1 55.5 56.2 62.3 52.9












Table 3e

Graduation rate five years after entry, for doctoral degree students, by gender and parental income quartile, 2012/2013 entry cohort

Table summary

This table displays the results of Graduation rate five years after entry. The information is grouped by Gender (appearing as row headers), All students, Lowest quartile, Second quartile, Third quartile, Highest quartile and No available parental income, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Gender All students Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Highest quartile No available parental income
percent
All ages, all genders 35.1 32.5 38.1 33.7 42.2 30.4
Men 36.7 33.3 40.0 36.8 45.9 28.9
Women 33.6 31.8 34.9 33.3 36.2 31.3

Tables 3a to 3e show that the graduation rate for students in the highest parental income quartile is higher than the graduation rate for their counterparts in the lowest parental income quartile, for all educational qualifications and all groupings. The differences in graduation rate between the highest and lowest quartiles are largest among the older age group for undergraduate degrees (15.5 percentage points), men in a doctoral degree program (12.6 percentage points), the younger age group for the college-level diplomas (10.7 percentage points), and women in an undergraduate degree program (10.4 percentage points).

Average times to graduation

The average time to graduationNote 23 is defined as the average number of elapsed academic years new students took to complete the credential in a given educational qualification. Only students who graduated within the observation period are included in the calculation of average time to graduation. Chart 3 shows the average time to graduation for students (all ages and all genders). The average times to graduation in Chart 3 are grouped by educational qualification and parental income quartile.

Chart 3 Average time to graduation (elapsed academic years), by selected educational qualifications and parental income quartile, all ages and all genders, 2012/2013 entry cohort

Data table for Chart 3















Data table for Chart 3

Table summary

This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 3. The information is grouped by Educational Qualification (appearing as row headers), Lowest quartile, Second quartile, Third quartile, Highest quartile and No available parental income, calculated using elapsed academic years units of measure (appearing as column headers).

Educational Qualification Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Highest quartile No available parental income
elapsed academic years
College-level certificate 1.17 1.17 1.14 1.15 1.11
College-level diploma 2.65 2.70 2.67 2.56 2.67
Undergraduate degree 4.26 4.18 4.19 4.26 4.15
Master’s degree 2.18 2.21 2.17 2.13 2.21
Doctoral degree 4.99 4.92 4.91 4.85 5.00



Chart 3 shows that students in the highest parental income quartile graduated as fast or faster than their counterparts in the lowest parental income quartile, for all educational qualifications. The differences in average times to graduation between the highest and lowest parental income quartile groups are less notable than they are for the persistence and graduation rates. The largest differences in average times to graduation between the highest and lowest parental income quartile are observed for the doctoral degree (0.14 years faster, on average) and college-level diploma (0.09 years faster, on average) educational qualifications.

Tables 4a to 4e show the average times to graduation disaggregated by gender and age.














Table 4a

Average time to graduation (elapsed academic years), measured over the three years after the year of first entry, for college-level certificate graduates, by gender, age group and parental income quartile, 2012/2013 entry cohort

Table summary

This table displays the results of Average time to graduation (elapsed academic years). The information is grouped by Age and gender (appearing as row headers), All students, Lowest quartile, Second quartile, Third quartile, Highest quartile and No available parental income, calculated using elapsed academic years units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Age and gender All students Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Highest quartile No available parental income
elapsed academic years
All ages, all genders 1.15 1.17 1.17 1.14 1.15 1.11
Men 1.15 1.17 1.17 1.14 1.16 1.10
Women 1.15 1.16 1.16 1.15 1.14 1.12
15 to 24 years old 1.16 1.17 1.17 1.16 1.15 1.12
25 to 36 years old 1.13 1.16 1.15 1.10 1.14 1.11














Table 4b

Average time to graduation (elapsed academic years), measured over the four years after the year of first entry, for college-level diploma graduates, by gender, age group and parental income quartile, 2012/2013 entry cohort

Table summary

This table displays the results of Average time to graduation (elapsed academic years). The information is grouped by Age and gender (appearing as row headers), All students, Lowest quartile, Second quartile, Third quartile, Highest quartile and No available parental income, calculated using elapsed academic years units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Age and gender All students Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Highest quartile No available parental income
elapsed academic years
All ages, all genders 2.65 2.65 2.70 2.67 2.56 2.67
Men 2.60 2.57 2.65 2.63 2.55 2.62
Women 2.68 2.70 2.73 2.71 2.57 2.70
15 to 24 years old 2.71 2.73 2.76 2.73 2.60 2.77
25 to 36 years old 2.36 2.39 2.37 2.31 2.21 2.45














Table 4c

Average time to graduation (elapsed academic years), measured over the six years after the year of first entry, for undergraduate degree graduates, by gender, age group and parental income quartile, 2012/2013 entry cohort

Table summary

This table displays the results of Average time to graduation (elapsed academic years). The information is grouped by Age and gender (appearing as row headers), All students, Lowest quartile, Second quartile, Third quartile, Highest quartile and No available parental income, calculated using elapsed academic years units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Age and gender All students Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Highest quartile No available parental income
elapsed academic years
All ages, all genders 4.21 4.26 4.18 4.19 4.26 4.15
Men 4.34 4.38 4.32 4.32 4.37 4.28
Women 4.13 4.18 4.10 4.10 4.18 4.06
15 to 24 years old 4.31 4.37 4.28 4.26 4.32 4.32
25 to 36 years old 3.05 3.12 3.01 2.89 2.85 3.20














Table 4d

Average time to graduation (elapsed academic years), measured over the four years after the year of first entry, for master’s degree graduates, by gender, age group and parental income quartile, 2012/2013 entry cohort

Table summary

This table displays the results of Average time to graduation (elapsed academic years). The information is grouped by Age and gender (appearing as row headers), All students, Lowest quartile, Second quartile, Third quartile, Highest quartile and No available parental income, calculated using elapsed academic years units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Age and gender All students Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Highest quartile No available parental income
elapsed academic years
All ages, all genders 2.18 2.18 2.21 2.17 2.13 2.21
Men 2.20 2.20 2.24 2.21 2.16 2.19
Women 2.16 2.16 2.19 2.15 2.11 2.22
15 to 24 years old 2.17 2.16 2.23 2.16 2.14 2.20
25 to 36 years old 2.19 2.20 2.19 2.19 2.12 2.21












Table 4e

Average time to graduation (elapsed academic years), measured over the six years after the year of first entry, for doctoral degree graduates, by gender and parental income quartile, 2012/2013 entry cohort

Table summary

This table displays the results of Average time to graduation (elapsed academic years). The information is grouped by Gender (appearing as row headers), All students, Lowest quartile, Second quartile, Third quartile, Highest quartile and No available parental income, calculated using elapsed academic years units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Gender All students Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Highest quartile No available parental income
elapsed academic years
All genders 4.93 4.99 4.92 4.91 4.85 5.00
Men 4.88 4.97 4.87 4.89 4.70 5.00
Women 4.98 5.01 4.97 4.93 4.98 4.99

Tables 4a to 4e show that students in the highest parental income quartile graduated as fast or faster, on average, than their counterparts in the lowest parental income quartile, for all educational qualifications and groupings. This was most notable for men in a doctoral degree program, where students in the highest parental income quartile graduated, on average, 0.27 academic years more quickly than those in the lowest parental income quartile.

Conclusion

The study population’s persistence and graduation indicators differed, in general, based on the student’s parental income. Students in the highest parental income quartile group exhibited higher persistence and graduation rates (for all selected educational qualifications) than students in the lowest parental income quartile group. This finding held when disaggregating by gender and age group. For students who graduated, those in the highest parental income quartile graduated as fast, or faster, than their counterparts in the lowest parental income quartile, for all selected educational qualifications. This, too, held when disaggregating by gender and age group.

The differences in indicators between students in the highest and lowest parental income quartiles were most notable for the graduation rates, followed by the persistence rates. The differences in average times to graduation across parental income quartiles were generally small.

Eric Fecteau and Melissa Van Bussel are analysts with the Canadian Centre for Education Statistics at Statistics Canada.