Tuition and Living Accommodation Costs for Full-time Students at Canadian Degree-granting Institutions (TLAC)

The purpose of the survey is to collect tuition fees and living accommodation costs concerning all universities and degree-granting colleges across the country.

Detailed information for 2012-2013

Data release – September 12, 2012

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy
• Documentation

Description

The Tuition and Living Accommodation Costs for Full-time Students at Canadian Degree-granting Institutions Survey was developed to provide student financial information (tuition fees and living accommodation costs) on all universities and degree-granting colleges in Canada.

This information:
- gives stakeholders, the public and students an annual guide to tuition costs as well as providing information on trends in tuition fees;
- contributes to a better understanding of the student financial position for that level of education;
- helps in the development of policies in this sector;
- is used to calculate the Consumer Price Index;
- facilitates interprovincial comparisons;
- facilitates comparisons across institutions.

Each year, data are collected for both the previous and current academic years. The previous year's data are then revised to become final while the data for the current year are preliminary and will be revised with those collected during the next cycle.

Subjects

• Education finance
• Education, training and learning
• Students

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Data sources and methodology

• Target population
• Instrument design
• Sampling
• Data sources
• Error detection
• Quality evaluation
• Disclosure control

Target population

The target population is all degree-granting institutions (universities and colleges) in Canada.

Instrument design

The questionnaire for this survey has remained stable over the years, although the format and wording has been modified to maintain its relevance based on feedback from survey respondents and data users.

However, for the collection cycle 2008-09, there was a redesign of the questionnaire. The new fields of study presented for both graduate and undergraduate programs are adapted from the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP), Statistics Canada's standard for field of study classification. The CIP's structure comprises several groupings developed jointly by Statistics Canada and the National Center for Education Statistics. It is based on work undertaken as part of the creation of the North American Product Classification System (NAPCS) by Canada, the United States and Mexico. These adapted groupings are:

- Education
- Visual and performing Arts, and Communications Technologies
- Humanities
- Social and Behavioural Sciences
- Law
- Business, Management and public Administration
- Physical and Life Sciences and Technologies
- Mathematics, Computer and Information Sciences
- Engineering
- Architecture and Related Technologies
- Agriculture, Natural Resources and Conservation
- Dentistry
- Medicine
- Nursing
- Pharmacy
- Veterinary medicine
- Health (other than Medicine), Parks, recreation and Fitness
- Personal, Protective and Transportation Services
- Other
For graduate programs only
- Executive MBA
- Regular MBA

Sampling

This survey is a census with a cross-sectional design.

Data are collected for all units of the target population; therefore, no sampling is done.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2012-04-11 – 2012-06-15

Responding to this survey is mandatory.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

As of the 2011-2012 cycle, all universities and degree-granting colleges report via electronic questionnaire. This cycle is the first one using the Electronic Transfer File services (ETF). Formerly, a paper questionnaire was sent to the respondent.

A covering letter and respondents' guide, as well as the temporary password required to access Statistics Canada's secure site to use the ETF, are mailed out by Operations and Integration Division (OID) at Statistics Canada. OID also conducts telephone follow-up.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)

Error detection

A Statistical Analysis System (SAS) program is run on the completed file, comparing each institution to the previous year's results. Any significant changes are investigated with the respondents.

Quality evaluation

Each year a data comparison is done (percentage increases for major cells) for each university and college. Any major discrepancies are investigated with the respondent, resulting in changes, if any.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any data which would divulge information obtained under the Statistics Act that relates to any identifiable person, business or organization without the prior knowledge or the consent in writing of that person, business or organization. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

A covering letter is sent to each institution requesting their participation and confirming their signed permission to publicly release the data, via an accompanying authorization form.

Data are released publicly at the institutional level.

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Data accuracy

All surveys are subject to errors. Only non-sampling errors apply to this survey given that there was no sampling process used to produce the final results. While considerable effort is made to ensure that universities and colleges are preparing information in accordance with the General Instructions to ensure comparability of the information at the aggregate level and ensure consistency and comparability over time in institutional reporting, major differences in operations and/or policies and/or differences in institutional interpretation/implementation of the General Instructions affect the comparability of the information over time and with other institutions.

There is a 100% response rate.

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Documentation

• Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) Canada 2000