The debate about access to post-secondary education has largely been framed around the question of whether individuals from low-income families are able to access post-secondary education. In this section, we argued that this question needs to be expanded to include the question of access for individuals who wish to return to post-secondary school later in life. Despite considerable rhetoric around the importance of life-long learning, the average age of Canadian college and university students has remained remarkably constant over the past 40 years (Junor and Usher, 2004). Most post-secondary institutions have policies such as flexible admission and PLAR to encourage the participation of older adults. Some institutions even have innovative programs for adult learners without high-school diplomas or prerequisites. There is little research, however, investigating how these policies are administered in practice. There is no publicly available data on the ratio of applicants to acceptances for older learners. It is difficult, therefore, to evaluate how well these policies are working. More research in this area is essential.
One of the most significant disincentives to participation may be the inadequacy of Canada’s financial aid system, which is designed for learners following a traditional path from secondary to post-secondary. Older students may be unwilling to give up the savings and assets that they worked hard to accumulate in order to be eligible for government loans. Older students, especially those with dependents, may feel that depleting their assets would make them too vulnerable to economic misfortune. Moreover, in most provinces, the expected contribution required from a spouse rises rapidly even from a fairly low level of spouse’s income, which makes married students with working spouses often not even eligible for student loans. While there is no research specifically examining the financial needs of older students, the proportion of older students with private bank loans and lines of credit suggests that the current system is not meeting their needs.