Ottawa invests in access to post-secondary education

Pathways to Education Canada to receive $20 million in federal funds over four years

The federal government is hoping more Canadian students will stay in school and make it through to post-secondary education, following a funding announcement made last week.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced in Toronto on March 3 that the government will invest $20 million over four years into Pathways to Education Canada, a charitable organization that helps students from low-income communities complete high school and make the successful transition to college and university.

“[The] funding that’s coming from the federal government is in support of what we’re calling our Graduation Nation initiative, which is about taking the program nationally,” said Pathways to Education president and CEO David Hughes, adding that one of the organization’s main goals is to curb high school dropout rates nationwide.

The program was launched in 2001 at a community health centre in Toronto to initially provide youth with some of the most basic things they required to help get them into the classroom every day…

…Pathways to Education currently supports approximately 3,400 students and aims to increase this number to 10,000 by 2016.