Does earning a regular high-school diploma later in life pay off? Unfortunately, there is no direct Canadian evidence on this subject. While the Canadian study (Zhang and Palameta, 2006) that examined the labour market outcomes of adults who obtained a credential later in life found generally favourable wage outcomes for individuals who obtained a credential, results were not reported by type of credential obtained.15

Option 2: Adult secondary diploma

All five provinces offer some type of modified secondary diploma for adults (See Table 4.2).

Table 4.2: Adult high-school equivalency certificates - eligibility, requirements, and costs
  Ontario Alberta BC Québec NS
Name High-school
Equivalency
Certificate		 High-school
Equivalency
Diploma		 Adult
Graduation
Diploma		 Certificate of
Equivalence
of Secondary
Studies		 High-school
Graduation
Diploma for
Adults
Eligibility 18 or older,
out of school
at least 1 year		 18 or older, out
of school at
least 10 mths		 19 or older,
OR 18 and
out of school
1 year		 16 or older 19 or older, out
of school at
least 1 year
Requirements
(GED or credits)		 Pass the GED
with a score of
450 or higher		 Pass the GED
OR obtain 100
credits16		 20 credits (5
courses)		 Pass the
GED		 12 courses
Cost $80 for test $400/course.
Grants may be cover living and school-related costs		 Free. Grants
may be
available for books and
other costs		 Free
(possible limited admission fees)		 Free

These diplomas are generally recognized as ‘equivalent’ to a regular high-school diploma but they are not the same thing. In British Columbia and Nova Scotia, adults can pursue this modified diploma in either the secondary or post-secondary system. In Ontario and Québec, adult learners are not required to take specific credit courses to obtain this equivalency diploma. Instead they simply have to pass what is known as the General Educational Development (GED) test. (See the next section for more information on the GED). In Québec, obtaining this equivalency diploma automatically grants an individual the 36 credits covering the optional content of a regular diploma.17 This is done explicitly to encourage individuals to use the equivalency diploma as a stepping stone to a regular diploma. In Alberta learners can choose either to complete a formal curriculum of modified credits or to write the GED test. Special adult diplomas are a relatively new phenomenon in Canada. To the best of our knowledge there are no studies that track the outcomes of individuals who have obtained these types of diplomas.

15 Personal communications with the researchers confirmed that there were not enough individuals in the sample who completed a high-school diploma and had ‘before’ and ‘after’ wage earnings to make specific claims about the wage gains associated with obtaining a high-school diploma.
16 Most courses are equivalent to five credits. Some credits may be awarded for maturity, travel, or reading.
17 In Québec, one needs to pass 54 units to obtain a Secondary School Diploma. Eighteen of these units are compulsory units and 36 are optional content. The GED tests do not cover the compulsory content.