Survey of Approaches to Educational Planning, 1999 [Canada]

Statistics Canada was approached by Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) to conduct a survey to examine how Canadians are preparing their children for post-secondary education. The objective was to examine both the financial and 'cultural' aspects of preparation. Financial preparation includes parent's expectations of the cost of their children's post-secondary education as well as the amount and type of savings that have been made for their education. Cultural aspects include parent's involvement in their children's schooling and the provision of educational resources. Saving for post-secondary education is not an activity that is restricted to parents of school-aged children. Many other individuals, such as grandparents, also save for a child's post-secondary education. In order to obtain educational savings data for all households in Canada, HRDC opted to include households without children in the survey as well. These households were asked financial savings questions only. The inclusion of these households allows statements to be made about all educational savings in Canada, not just savings by households with children. The 1999 Survey of Approaches to Educational Planning is the first survey conducted by Statistics Canada to collect detailed information about how Canadians prepare their children for post-secondary education. Given the growing importance of post-secondary education in Canada and recent increases in the costs, the survey will provide a key first look at how Canadians are getting ready for their children's post-secondary education.