| This thesis examines the development of the Canadian, Alberta, and Saskatchewan Student Loan Programs using the neo-institutionalist approach, combined with some aspects of neo-Marxist conflict theory.First, the history of funding university and university students in Canada, Saskatchewan, and Alberta is explored in order to provide a context for contemporary changes and developments in the funding of post-secondary education and in government student loan programs. Although originally designed to enable a small number of eligible but financially challenged students to attend post-secondary institutions, over half of Canadian university students will have borrowed through the programs by the time they complete their education. Students are also borrowing increasing amounts through the programs and graduating with growing debt loads. Recently, banks have been taking a greater and more influential role in the student loan programs through repayment, which governments have been contracting out.The neo-institutionalist approach, a structural approach emphasizing the importance of societal institutions in shaping the policy atmosphere, is applied to the study of student loan programs but is unable to fully explain drastic shifts in policy apparent between 1985 and 1995---increasing bank involvement and greater emphasis on the individual as primarily responsible for education funding. The incorporation of some aspects of neo-Marxist theory, notably the concept of dominant ideology, allow the neo-institutionalist approach to more fully explain this previously unexplained shift in policy and in societal opinion. Allowing for both structural factors and wider societal changes means that this revised form of neo-institutionalism has much to offer in terms of policy analysis. |
