Net Costs of Postsecondary Non-completion in Ontario: A Benefit–Cost Analysis for HEQCO was written by Ashley Pullman et al. for SRDC; An Overview of SRDC’s Cost–Benefit Analysis of Postsecondary Non-completion in Ontario was written by Alana Button for HEQCO and Ashley Pullman et al. for SRDC; and When Students Participate in Postsecondary Education, Ontarians Benefit Too was written by Rachel Courts and Alana Button for HEQCO.
Ontario postsecondary education (PSE) non-completion carries major economic and social costs: students earn significantly less, institutions lose funding, governments do not get the full return on their investment and society faces skills gaps in the workforce. Previous research from the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC) and the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) found that 24.7% of Ontario students fail to graduate within seven years of entering PSE, earning roughly 50% less than graduates.
In order to better understand the full impacts of non-completion, SRDC conducted a detailed cost–benefit analysis (CBA) comparing the net costs of non-completion versus completion among comparable individuals, highlighting the benefits lost when students start but do not finish their education. To complement SRDC’s work, HEQCO produced a brief explaining SRDC’s CBA framework for PSE non-completion, as well as a blog post and infographic exploring the benefits of PSE completion to students, governments and society.
The report, brief and accompanying blog post and infographic illustrate the overall benefits of PSE, whether or not a student completes a credential. On average, those who start but don’t complete PSE still experience financial gains through higher prime working-life earnings compared to those who don’t participate in PSE, which also benefits the provincial and federal governments through increased tax revenue. If non-completers were to complete PSE, the benefits to both students and governments increase further. The overall findings suggest that helping non-completers finish their programs could yield substantial additional benefits.
Net Costs of Postsecondary Non-completion in Ontario: A Benefit–Cost Analysis for HEQCO
In their report, SRDC compares the financial impact of three situations: starting PSE but not finishing, completing a credential and not attending at all. It uses detailed data analysis and forecasting to assign a dollar value to these differences. SRDC estimates the financial costs to non-completers over their lifetimes compared to if they had never enrolled, and how much more they would have earned if they had graduated. The key focus of the report is the gap between these two estimates, or the net cost of non-completion, which illustrates the benefits that are lost when a student leaves PSE without completing a credential.
An Overview of SRDC’s Cost–Benefit Analysis of Postsecondary Non-completion in Ontario
HEQCO’s brief provides an overview of SRDC’s detailed CBA, explaining the framework and parameters SRDC used in their work. This methodological explainer is designed as a complementary resource for those unfamiliar with CBA to support a fulsome understanding of SRDC’s findings and their implications.
When Students Participate in Postsecondary Education, Ontarians Benefit Too
In their blog post and accompanying infographic, HEQCO highlights the ways in which PSE benefits everyone — students, the province and the government. When Ontarians attend college or university, it creates significant financial gains, and those gains are even greater when students graduate. To fully realize these benefits, however, more focus could be placed on improving access and supporting students through to completion.