USA

                                                          USA

There are some major differences between the Canadian and US student loan systems, but two key similaries can be seen in the research papers listed below.

First, both countries have seen dramatic increases in student loan debt since the 1980s. Second, during that time, both the US and Canada have transformed student loans from what was primarily a social program into an increasingly complex industry.

The following documents offer some snapshots of results in the US system, which has gone more deeply into privatization than Canada has reached to date.

Dealing with Debt:
1992-93 Bachelor's Degree Recipients 10 Years Later

1.6 MB

(by Susan P. Choy, Xiaojie Li, MPR Associates, Inc. and C. Dennis Carroll , National Center for Education Statistics, 2006)

Task Force on Medical Student Debt: Final Draft

772 KB

(Report of the American Medical Association - Medical Student Section , 2003)

Causes of Faster-than-inflation Increases in College Tuition

430 KB

(by Mark Kantrowitz, Publisher, FinAid, 2002)