Beyond the 49th Parallel II: The Affordability of University Education

This report looks at the affordability of public 4-year post-secondary education in 50 US States and 10 Canadian provinces. Public 4-year post-secondary education was found to be more affordable in the United States on five of the six affordability measures in the report; on the sixth, the two countries were tied. In general, in the United States poorer states tend to be more affordable both because tuition is usually low compared to other states and because federal student aid acts as an equalizing force. In Canada, poorer provinces tend to be less affordable both because tuition is higher than in other provinces and because the tendency of wealthier provinces to spend more heavily on student aid counteracts the equalizing effects of federal student aid programs. (Contains 1 footnote, 6 figures and 20 tables.)