The Dominion-Provincial Student Loan Program was the first federally funded student loan program accessible to university students in Canada.
Originally, only five provinces joined the initiative, but by 1944 all nine provinces were participating. Newfoundland joined the scheme in 1950, soon after joining confederation in 1949.
It is also known as the Dominion-Provincial Student Aid Program.
History
The Dominion-Provincial Student Loan Program started in 1939 and developed out of the 1937 Dominion-Provincial Youth Program which was designed to provide vocational training to youth who had been denied access to training during the depression years. In 1964, the
Canada Student Loans Program
Government sponsored Student Loans in Canada was designed to help post-secondary students pay for their education in Canada. The federal government funds the Canada Student Loan Program (CSLP) and the provinces may fund their own programs or be int ...
(CSLP) replaced the Dominion-Provincial Student Loan Program. The province of
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
left the arrangement in 1954 because of concerns surrounding jurisdiction and autonomy.
Purpose
It was based on a matching grants system. If students required financial assistance and were of high academic standing, the
Government of Canada
The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-i ...
in partnership with a provincial government would provide a matching grant to the student. The effectiveness of the program was questionable because it helped on average less than 3000 students per year, while university enrollment increased from just approximately 35,000 in 1939 to over 100,000 in 1960 (Fisher et al., 2005). Additionally, it is estimated the federal government only spent $5 million total on the program (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2007).
Impact
The main impact of the program was that it firmly established the role of the federal government in the funding of higher education. The controversy surrounding this is that in both the
Canadian Constitution
The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents a ...
and its predecessor, the
British North America Acts
The British North America Acts 1867–1975 are a series of Acts of Parliament that were at the core of the constitution of Canada. Most were enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and some by the Parliament of Canada. In Canada, some ...
, education is the jurisdiction of the provinces. A matching grants system left the provincial governments vulnerable to interference from the federal government.
The implementation of the program affected student funding in three ways:
# It stimulated provincial growth in funding student loan programs.
# The financial need of the student became the primary reason for funding, rather than academic prowess.
# It cemented the importance of the federal government in funding and coordinating student aid. (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2007)
References
*Cameron, D. M. (2001)
Postsecondary education and Canadian federalism: or how to predict the future.The Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 31(3), 143-156.
*''Canadian Encyclopedia''. (2007). Financial aid to students. Retrieved February 11, 2018 from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/financial-aid-to-students/
*Fisher, D. et al. (2005). Canadian Federal Policy and Post-Secondary Education. Retrieved October 27, 2007 from https://web.archive.org/web/20060915173518/http://www.nyu.edu/iesp/aiheps/downloads/finalreports/May%202005/Canadian%20Federal%20Policy.pdf
External links
Annual report, 1998-1999(PDF)
Education finance in Canada