Access to post-secondary education (PSE) is a subject near and dear to my heart. This issue is what I work at professionally (to the extent that I'm professional about it). When I was a student government hack in university it was the core issue that I tried to work on. I think that it is a crucial and totally slept-on issue in Canadian society and our politics. I think that when we do look at it, we often do it through the wrong lens, missing the very people who matter in the access conversation - those who do not currently make it to PSE, for whatever reason.
Vincent Tinto, from Syracuse University, does a very nice job of presenting another part of the access story in this article for the Carnegie Foundation: persistence and completion. Tinto is well recognized as a leader in the field of PSE research.
So, to be clear, access can (and should) mean the following: getting students in the front door (amdissions) and out the back door (degree, diploma, certificate in hand).
(H/T to Dale Kirby)
