Canadian Career College Students Survey, 2008 [Canada]

The Survey of Canadian Career College Students was conducted to further understand student participation in the private post-secondary educational system. Students from 384 private career colleges participated in an in-school survey to ascertain socio-economic background, factors influencing selection of the private college system, debt levels, student satisfaction, work and educational transition plans. In total 13,721 students from private institutions receiving less than 50% government funding, with less than 30% enrollment in ESL or correspondence participated in the survey. Among those students that completed the survey 61% agreed to participate in a follow-up survey six to 12 months post-graduation to determine graduate outcomes. The Survey of Canadian Career College Graduates was undertaken to further understand graduate outcomes associated with Canada’s private post-secondary education system. It is a continuation of previous research which included an examination of Canada’s career college system (Phase I: Institutional Report) and a comprehensive survey of students enrolled in programs in private institutions (Phase II: In-School Survey). This new phase includes a review of career college outcomes six to nine months after graduation. The project is unique in that it provides a longitudinal perspective on each respondent’s experience: both as a student (In-School Survey) and as a graduate (the present survey). In total, 4,065 graduates participated in this research and agreed to link their responses to the In-School Survey. While attempts have been made to draw comparisons between private and public student bodies, it is important to note that there were some limitations in making such comparisons. As the last national public college survey of graduates was completed in 2002 (for college students who graduated in 2000), some comparisons have been made to recent public college outcomes for graduates in BC and Ontario only. Note 1 : The survey instrument for phase 2 is at the end of the Phase 2 report. Note 2: This project was divided into three phases. Three distinct reports were published at the end of each phase of the project. The dataset contains Phase II and Phase III data as well as the variables created for analysis (program type, region, post-program status etc.). The file also contains a weight variable which should be used when analyzing the data to ensure that the data aligns with the data presented in the Graduate Report. Note 3: The following labels have been applied to the database: • qa1 – q indicates that the question is from the In-School Survey • A1 – the capitalized ‘A’ (and no ‘q’) indicates it is from the Graduate Survey