Research summary: Outcomes of ‘Future to Discover’ Participants

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Why this study

The research looks at the relationships between college or university and income, health, and crime outcomes for students from low-income families in Manitoba and New Brunswick.

What we did

Researchers followed low-income students in Manitoba and New Brunswick to see how two high school interventions influenced their lives by age 30. The study used past research and added data about education, jobs, health, and crime to understand the impact of these high school interventions.

What we found

• the Explore Your Horizons (EYH) intervention, a career planning program, helped more students in Manitoba go to college and graduate
• in New Brunswick, EYH improved university enrolment but slightly lowered graduation rates from post-graduate certificate or diploma programs
• the Learning Accounts (LA) intervention, a financial aid program for low-income students in New Brunswick, improved enrolment and completion of apprenticeship programs
• both the EYH only and EYH-LA interventions improved university enrolment but did not improve graduation rates
• students in New Brunswick had fewer interactions with the criminal justice system
• LA participants had less contact with the criminal justice system in the first 10 years after completing the program
• EYH participants had less contact with the criminal justice system 11 to 15 years later

What it means

Although this research had data limitations, and results in Manitoba were mixed, the findings from New Brunswick suggest that programs designed to reduce barriers to college and university may also lead to better social outcomes, such as fewer encounters with the criminal justice system.

Contact us

Learning Branch, Learning Policy & Services Directorate, Planning, Policy, and Partnerships Division

Email: esdc.nc.sspb.research-recherche.dgpss.cn.edsc@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca