INAC First Nations and Inuit PostSecondary Education

1
INAC First Nations and Inuit Post-Secondary
Education

• Moving Towards Renewal

2
Evolution in INAC post-secondary world

• Post-secondary funding has evolved over 50 years
  from small-scale well-intentioned ad hoc funding
  to a multi-million dollar program
• Post-secondary student assistance provided to
  very small numbers of status Indians starting in
  the 1950s
• First formal program authority created in 1968
• Move to First Nation/Inuit delivery in late
  1970s/early 1980s
• Numbers of funded students increased slowly from
  3,600 in 1977 to peak of 27,500 annually in
  1999-2000

3
Evolution in Canadian federal post-secondary world

• Creation of Canada Student Loans Program (1964)
• Introduction of Registered Education Savings
  Plans (1970s)
• Introduction of tuition and education tax credits
  (1972)
• Launch of Canada Millennium Scholarship
  Foundation (1998)

4
Canadian post-secondary world today

• Provincial/Territorial governments provide
• Most capital/operating costs of
  universities/colleges
• Various student support measures
• Federal government provides
• Canada Social Transfer (CST), nominally includes
  PSE 7.9B for provinces
• Diverse student support measures (including
  Canada Student Loans - 700M annually).
• Aboriginal Human Resource Development Agreements
  (approx. 320M annually)
• INAC Post-Secondary Funding (approx. 305M
  annually)
• Diverse, major supports for research (Research
  Chairs, Funding Councils)
• Post-secondary scholarships and bursaries (e.g.
  12M National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
  endowment)
• 1 billion Post-secondary Infrastructure Trust
  Fund transfer to provinces
• Other stakeholders including students, parents
  and private/non-government sector
• Tuition, related compulsory fees, materials,
  accommodation/living expenses
• Endowments, scholarships, PSE institutions

5
Problematique

• Only four percent of Aboriginal individuals have
  completed university versus fifteen percent of
  the total population
• Attainment levels of non-university PSE are quite
  close, at 25 percent to 28 percent respectively
• INAC funding does not provide support to all
  eligible students
• Level of funding is not tied to educational costs
  or individual/family level of need
• OAG (2004) criticized INACs lack of clarity
  about its role
• Data on students and expenditures incomplete/not
  informative
• Allocation methodology does not facilitate moving
  funding to First Nations or students in greatest
  need
• Program objectives, design, and outcomes outdated

6
Highest level of schooling for the total and
Aboriginal population, aged 15, 1996 and 2001
Census
7
Success nevertheless

• 4,000 INAC-funded First Nation and Inuit students
  graduate from post-secondary institutions
  annually
• Funding students on a targeted basis shown to be
  most effective means of overcoming economic
  barriers to participation, according to C.D. Howe
  and Educational Policy institutes
• Aboriginal post-secondary graduates have incomes
  much higher than high school graduates, but still
  lower than other Canadians

8
Median Income of Males and Females 15 by Highest
Level of Schooling, 2001
9
The Potential

• Aboriginal population younger (median 24.7 years)
  than Canadian average (median 37.7) so higher
  proportion at labour force entry age 2001
  Census
• Labour market shortages in many regions could be
  partly filled by Aboriginal people with skills
  derived from post-secondary educations
• Aboriginal individuals with higher incomes
  (generated by higher levels of education) create
  wealth in their communities

10
Current INAC program suite

• Post-secondary Student Support Program (PSSSP)
• Approx. 285M (2005-2006) in grants to 24,000
  individual students, administered by First
  Nations and Inuit organizations
• 4000 graduates per year
• Indian Studies Support Program (ISSP)
• Approx. 20M in contributions to 55
  post-secondary institutions for programs and
  services targeted at First Nations and Inuit
  students administered by INAC regional offices
• University and College Entrance Program (UCEP)
• Student support (like PSSSP) but uniquely for
  one-year post-secondary preparatory courses

11
Objective for Post-Secondary Education

• Current To improve the employability of First
  Nation people and Inuit by providing eligible
  students with access to education and skill
  development opportunities at the post-secondary
  level
• Proposed new Strengthening the ability of First
  Nation and Inuit students to achieve
  post-secondary outcomes at the same rates as
  other Canadians, realize their full potential and
  improve their standard of living

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What would improve outcomes?

• Not turning away high-achieving students who are
  in economic need
• Predictability/reliability/transparency of
  funding to individual students
• Coordination with other sources of funding (e.g.
  students loans, private scholarships and
  bursaries)
• Graduation (as opposed to participation)
  incentives?

13
Challenges to improving outcomes

• Poor First Nation high school graduation rates is
  a major impediment to greater post-secondary
  participation
• Difficulty in administering consistent system
  within a disaggregated First Nations delivery
  method

14
Questions to consider

• What program design options are suggested by the
  proposed objective?
• Which federal departments should be involved and
  what roles should they play?
• What is the role of First Nation and Inuit
  administering organizations?
• What is the role of Aboriginal-controlled and
  mainstream post-secondary institutions?
• What are the resource implications?