Research On The Millennial Generation'S Values With Current Education In Canada
This survey project aims to views of millennials type, finance and instruction method of millennials education. Firstly, the type of education section includes important factors consider when millennials choose a college or major. In detail, there are questions about their future plan after graduation and their major main factors if they change a major. Secondly, in finance of education section includes that cost of tuition fee, how to treat education debt and how education debt affect to their lives. Overall result of this investigation is that millennials consider these three parts more seriously than expectation which based on general features of millennials. Some difference caused in result because of wrong methods such as inappropriate meaning of words in question. Through interview about instruction methods of millennials, most of responders tend to use their own lecture schedules freely, not concentrate only their major also learn other interests unless in spite of prefer traditional type.
Introduction
Millennials are said to be “the most educated generation”. According to a survey of Pew Research Center (2015), millennials have the higher number of people completing at least a bachelor’ degree with 48% of the total crowd, compared with boomers (31%). Another interesting phenomenon is that for those 48%, 27% are women, 21% are men. Women have a higher percentage to have at least a bachelor’s degree than men. Researches also show that millennials are changing the way of study. Such as using apps and online media during their studying. Millennials are fond of flexible study method, like expecting more connections between their own experiences and their class learning. Generation Y favor feedback and collaboration in their study environment, they are not just satisfied with what the textbook tell them. Obviously, millennials have their own characters in learning. At the same time, millennials is a generation with student loan debt which to some millennials a heavy burden, and they may have their own pressure. Millennials are not so pleasant as they look like.
Millennials are more educated, hard-working and frugal in Canada. Unfortunately, the economic situation of millennials is worse than their parents’. What is the cause of this result? It is generally believed that millennials pursue higher standards of living and choose higher education compare with their parents. Furthermore, it is difficult to find decent jobs for Generation Y. However, the easiest way to solve problems is to improve their education.
Why millennials need higher education?
Millennials might be hard to find a job when they do not have a qualified education background. High education usually requires a high tuition fee. Nevertheless, it is not always easy to find a job that fit them. This is a serious social issue. Due to unemployment pressures, Millennials usually take quite a long period of time to consider which college or university to go. For instance, many colleges have cooperation programs with companies, these programs will attract more young people Considering about all this, it might be valuable to explore the real situation about millennials’ education, the reason cause them to be more educated, the factors they consider to expect from post-secondary education, and now that they highly rely on internet and technology, they still think traditional method attractive and critical. They have any stresses in college campus.
What are the stresses?
College tuition fees keep increasing, they pay their tuition fees by themselves or depends on their parents. How they handle their student debt? This paper aims to draw an overall picture of millennials’ education in three aspects: type of education, financing of education and instruction method. Through questionnaire survey and interview survey, we grabbed some of the truth.
Methodology
The purpose of this survey project is to understand the current views of Millennials in Canada regarding Education. The Millennials Education’s survey program consists of two parts, one for the one hundred surveys and one for the six interviews. The survey data about in the Millennial types of education, there are thirty-one female respondents, ages from eighteen to twenty-three have twenty-two person, ages from twenty-four to twenty-nine have four person, and ages from thirty to thirty-five have five person. There are nineteen males, ages from eighteen to twenty-three have thirteen person, ages from twenty-four to twenty-nine have two person, ages from thirty to thirty-five have four person. he survey data about in the Millennial financing of education, there are thirty-three female respondents, ages from eighteen to twenty-three have thirteen person, ages from twenty-four to twenty-nine have seven person, and ages from thirty to thirty-five have three person. There are twenty-seven males, ages from eighteen to twenty-three have thirteen person, ages from twenty-four to twenty-nine have ten person, ages from thirty to thirty-five have three person.
The interview data about in the Instruction Methods of Millennials Education, there are two female respondents, ages from eighteen to twenty-three. There are four males, two of them belong in ages from eighteen to twenty-three, and the other two person are in the other two age groups. The survey data is in the form of a questionnaire from a single option among numerous questions. With this limited option, people can have a clear understanding of Millennials’ ideas. It can help people to grasp the direction better, for example, compare the advantages of traditional teaching methods and online courses. The survey advocates one social issue through three categories: type, finance, and teaching methods. One is the heavy education debt and the problem of the traditional education facing the online courses in the Internet age. The questionnaire is based on three different age groups: eighteen to twenty-three, that is the person who from the high school graduation to college graduation, twenty-four to twenty-nine from adult to university graduation, and continues to study of graduate or doctoral degree and in the first five years work. and thirty to thirty-five is the person who generally a stable period of career. In this way, we can understand the development of millennials at different stages, and the collection of data will not be excessive. In order to better understand the expectations of Millennials for education. Second, it is an interview. The interview can get more information and get more specific and more humanized answers to the questions. This survey and interviews are mainly for people who are college and university students. The respondents were questioned at subway stations, shopping malls, universities and colleges where Generation Y often appears. The design of the options is also more detailed from the single choice to the degree of sorting and the personalized way of interviewing.
Findings
- Type of millennials’ education
- What Factors Do Millennials Consider When Choosing a College or University?
- How Do Millennials Choose a Major?
- The Benefit From Millennials
- Why Do Millennials Change Their Major?
- Academic Status Of Millennials
- Tuition Fees Of Millennials
- Millennials Education Financial Sources
- Education Debt Of Millennials
- Plans to pay education debt
- Period of payoff the education debt
- The Impact Of Debt On Millennials
- Millennials Topic Preferences
- Millennials Choose The Purpose Of The Subject
This section was surveyed by fifty millennials. The number of male participants are nineteen and the number of female participants are thirty one. There are three age groups divided eighteen to twenty-three, twenty- four to twenty-nine and thirty to thirty-five. A total of female in eighteen to twenty-three years old is largest which accounts for forty-four percent. A total of male participants is four percent which is two persons only.
Eighty-six percent of the participants are enrolled in a post-secondary program. This pie graph shows that fifty-five percent of participants are studying in public college and forty-three percent of participants in university. Only two percent of participants in private college.
The top three factors are reputable quality program, reputable professors and instructors, and positive learning space. In detail, the reputable quality programs account for forty percent from this question. High quality programs are important for millennials what they choose a college or university. In the second important factors that the top three options are effective learning tools, supportive learning environment, reputable quality program. For the third important factors that the top three options are post-graduation employability, tuition fees, and effective learning tools. From this point after, the thirty-eight percent of millennials choose reputable professors and instructors. The forty-eighteen percent of participants choose most important in interest in the topic option. The employability post graduation options.
For the most important factor, the top three is: interest in the topic, employability, opportunity to benefit society in the future. prefer to choose famous professors and college.
The forty four percent of Millennials choose achieve knowledge by the question about the benefit of their program. In detail, forty eight percent of participants choose that achieving knowledge is largest benefited in program. It means that they have a plan with finding a job after graduation.
Third one is that, if millennials can get chance to change their major, the fourteen students choose yes. The five students choose the major does not fit their personality. Lastly, the last three survey questions about their mental illness. It is true that the mental health of millennials is important for their education.
Financing of millennials education
This section was surveyed by fifty Millennials. The number of male participants are twenty-seven and the number of female participants are twenty-three. There are three age groups divided eighteen to twenty-three years old, twenty-four to twenty-nine years old and thirty to thirty-five years old. Male group are consist of thirteen, ten and four respectively following the age division. Female group are consist of thirteen, seven and three respectively following the age division.
Sixty-four percent of them are in undergraduate, twenty-four percent and twelve percent are in post-graduate and master respectably.
Forty-six percent of their tuition fee are in $10, 000 – 20, 000 category, twenty percent of their tuition fee are in $5, 000 - 10, 000 category, eighteen percent of their tuition fee are in more than $20, 000 category and sixteen percent of their tuition fee are in $1, 000 - 5, 000 category.
Most of the students paid their finance of education by themselves, rely on their parents or both of them. About twenty percent of student paid their finance of education by using student loans. Seventy-two percent of students currently work while attending school. Two-thirds of them work ten to twenty hours per week and about eleven percent of them work full time.
Sixty-two percent of participants will graduate with debt that caused from school expenses. About a half of them answered that education debt takes up under twenty percent of their personal debt.
Participants mainly choose two ways to repay their education debt; paying internship after school and learning financial management. Ten people choose relying on parents.
Fifty-six percent of them expect one to five years to payoff their education debt. Twenty-four percent expect under one year. Only two percent of participants expect that it will take more than ten years to pay off their education debt.
Education debt make Millennials to put back their marriage, starting a family, buying a home and ability to save money. In addition the debt affect them to reducing entertainment. Education debt affect several factors almost evenly.
Instruction methods of millennials education
The part about ‘Instruction Methods of Millennials Education’ proceed by interviews. The interview lists are based on comparing the traditional and the current methods of education. The age range of the people interviewed are generally distributed, as shown in the table chart below. The ratio of women to men is two ratio four, and the age of eighteen to twenty-three, twenty-four to thirty-five is the same as to two ratio four. In common, regardless of age or gender, many millennials preferred the traditional way such as face to face and learned at the lecture rooms, rather than pursuing online classes (Figure 1). Eighty-three percent of the students liked to learn traditionally, and that traditional classes were more effective in gaining knowledge than online classes. Respondents preferred to face to face classes with professors or take classes in the classroom with their friends. Also Generation Y preferred traditional methods of interactive information transfer over online classes.
Generation Y are pursuing traditional methods and traditional topics. On the other hand, all of Gen Y hope to be able to control their lecture. Sixty-seven percent want flexible about spending times to achieve knowledges. Sixteen and seventeen percent of students make their own free time in semester and want to choose programs not only in their majors. They show willing to set their own lecture-timetable, enjoy their free time when they want, interest in other majors that they don’t have their own lecture. Millennials have an interest in their major and ambitious. Sixty-seven percent respondents choose studying more than five hours a day about their majors. With this figures, Millennials interested in their major and the others, also they want to learn other things that they want to learn.
When young students choose a subject, More than eighty percent choose more effective to themselves than the money. In short, millennials’ responders want to be able to develop their knowledge like have a chance to learn more about the subjects they are interested in rather than hoping for material development in schools.
Conclusion
The purpose of this survey is to better understand the millennial generation's values with current education in Canada. The surveys and interview questions were designed through the understanding of millennials, and the expectation indicates the current state of the millennials. Through books, articles, and other reliable sources, Millennials are generally selfish, dependable, impatient and have unrealistic values. Make survey and interview questions based on those representing features of millennials. Especially focused on those negative features to extract certain and common information through investigation.
Millennials tend to choose a major and college based on their preference. From this result, when they choose a major or college, they do not affected even their parents. In addition, they have a tendency to follow famous programs and college or university. However, the interest in the topic is that the most important factor to consider when choosing a major area of study. Millennials want to go to famous colleges or university and after then they tend to choose major of study based on their preference. The interesting point is that millennials tend to want to study not only famous college but also famous professors. However, the last question about mental problem is not related to the type of education. It is undeniable that mental illness is one of important part in education. The results of the questionnaire reflect that the debt problem is not as serious as imagined. They are working a few hours per week while attending school to treat their education debts, instead of not just rely on their parents or relatives. Most of student have plan to resolve their education debts by internship or learning financial management with set-up of expecting terms. However education debt certainly affect their lives variously such as delay marriage, starting family and buying home. In addition they give up some part of their entertainment due to education debt. Combine the type of education survey and includes interviews results, people tend to prefer the traditional methods, but interested in way of learning online either. The reason why it results causes like this, the advantages of traditional methods over the advantages of online. Traditional type is much more effective and attractive to them. For example, face to face is possible to ask questions, find answers quickly, and build social skills by taking classes with friends. Due to the inaccurate design of some questions, some problems were not accurately reflected. For example, some questions are vague. In question about traditional topics and current topics, millennials did not understand the exact meanings, and the survey do not have enough relative result to reflect the problems.
In addition, through the data of this project, there are some problems in survey questions. Many online articles show that the current millennials’ debt problem is serious and have affect on their quality of life in the future. However, the results from this project show that the vast majority of people have debts below twenty-percent. Furthermore, millennials believe that they can pay off their debts within five years. The result of this survey and other social news have a different perspective on millennials. The majority of interviewing people belong to students who are studying, the age is between eighteen to twenty three. Some students rely on their parents to pay tuition, and they have unrealistic concept for future life. In short, these questionnaires did not truly reflect the true state of education for all millennials. The age group should be balanced in future surveys. first-The choice of the location of survey should not only be carried out in the college. Although the college is the most concentrated place for millennials, it couldn’t investigate all age group. Metros, shopping malls, office buildings, and higher-level universities should be thought as survey location. Second, more detailed options should be added to the design of the questions. For example, most of the interviewees with ages between thirty and thirty five have already entered the working state, and the option of occupation can be increased to relevant between major and employment. In addition, Canada is a multinational country, and the interviewees may be international students, new immigrants. If add the country from the options, maybe can better understand the views of people from different countries on Canadian education in order to understand different cultures. Next, you should read the current state of education in Canada before designing a complete survey, and design a questionnaire for the question to more effectively reflect the desired answer. Finally, increase the link between the three parts.
