Future To Discover (FTD) – Post-Secondary Impacts Report

Authors:Reuben Ford Marc Frenette Claudia Nicholson Isaac Kwakye Taylor Shek-Wai Hui Judith Hutchison Sabina Dobrer Heather Smith Fowler Sophie Hébert

This report shows that offering either career education or an early guarantee of financial aid, separately or in combination, to high-school students had significant impacts on their enrolment in post-secondary studies. SRDC’s rigorous evaluation of these interventions found both to increase access to college or university for students traditionally less-likely to attend, such as those from lower-income lower-education families, and boys. The two interventions were tested with some 5,400 students in 51 high schools between 2004 and 2008 as part of the Future to Discover (FTD) project:

enhanced workshops on career education in the last three years of high school to students in Grades 10 through 12 in New Brunswick and Manitoba, and
an early promise of an $8,000 bursary for post-secondary education when made to New Brunswick students from lower-income families.

A detailed benefit-cost analysis found the early promise of a bursary in particular to be very cost-effective, due to its low administrative cost. It generated $2.00 to $3.40 in benefits to society for each dollar cost to government.

The report presents a full account of the impacts of Future to Discover on the main outcomes of interest including graduation from high school, applying for and enrolling in different types of post-secondary education for the different education systems and population sub-groups. Many interim impacts of the interventions are also of interest, such as on students’ course choices and achievement while in high school, and these are available and in a separate working paper based on school records data. Through rigorous evaluation, Future to Discover is providing much-needed knowledge to inform the selection of programs that deliver the most benefit to Canada’s economy and support all youth in having the opportunity to achieve their potential.

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Project Details

Published: November 2012
Capability: Experimentation
Policy Area: Post-Secondary Education, P-12 Education
Population: Youth - Children - Students
Type: Full report, Executive summary, Working paper