Measuring the Effectiveness of Student Aid, 2005-2008 [Canada]

The Measuring the Effectiveness of Student Aid (MESA) dataset comprises a sample of low income students receiving student financial aid in 2006-07. Students were contacted first (Cycle I) in February-May of that academic year (the precise date varying by province), and were then followed up in 2007-08 (Cycle II), contacted in February-April of that year. Students will be contacted again in 2008-09 for the last time. The dataset represents a national sample, including all provinces-except for Prince Edward Island. In the spring and summer of 2005, the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation negotiated a series of agreements with provincial governments to deliver a set of bursaries (known as “Access Bursaries”) to first-time, first-year undergraduates from low-income families. These agreements are all broadly similar though eligibility criteria vary slightly by jurisdiction (section 1, below, describes the Access Bursaries as they exist in each province). Students do not need to apply for the award separately; instead, they are automatically considered for the award through their application for provincial student assistance. The sample represents a particular subset of the students who received student financial aid in their first year of post-secondary education in 2006-07. In the majority of the provinces, this subset consists of the students who received a Low Income Bursary from the Millennium Scholarship Foundation. In British Columbia and Nova Scotia, a control group made up of students who received financial aid but not the Millennium Bursary was surveyed as well. The Ontario sample is made up those Millennium Bursary recipients who also received a Canada Access Grant and those who did not, with sub-samples selected from each group (all appear together in the data but can be separately identified). The Bursary and the Grant are awarded in similar amounts, but the eligibility requirements are different. This dataset was freely received from the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. Some work was required for the variable and value labels, and missing values. They were corrected as best as possible with the documentation received. Caution should be used with this dataset as some variables are lacking information.