The number of lower-income students at U of T has risen over the past year, a new survey has concluded.
The annual Student Finance Survey asked a random sampling of U of T undergraduates, professional faculty students, and graduate students to estimate their families’ income. For 2003, 37 per cent of undergraduates at U of T had families making less than $50,000 per year, up from 29 per cent last year.
University President Robert Birgeneau says the increase in enrolment of lower-income students is a trend in the right direction.
“This is very good news,” Birgeneau said. “The data indicate that our strategy of extensive needs-based financial aid coupled with a fair contribution by students to the cost of their education is working.”
Among undergraduates, students whose parents made between $30,000 and $49,999 were the largest group, at just over 20 per cent. The number of undergraduates whose parents make more than $100,000 declined this year to 10.6 per cent from more than 15 per cent a year ago.
Lower-income doctoral students made the biggest gain. In 2002, 21 per cent of doctoral candidates’ families made less than $50,000, but that number shot to more than 36 per cent in 2003. Birgeneau credits a new support package for doctoral-stream students which U of T introduced in 2001.
The student finance survey is one section of a report by David Farrar, Vice-Provost of Students, which also examined student debt and the university’s financial-aid programs. The number of students at U of T with OSAP debt over $25,000 rose to 8 per cent, while almost 75 per cent of students taking law, dentistry, medicine or pharmacy have debt as high as $75,000.
“We must continue to explore ways to improve financial support for students,” said Birgeneau. “We need to pay particular attention to ongoing improvement in the participation rates of lower-income students in our professional programs and ensuring that students from middle-income families can access adequate financial aid from the province and the university.”
