A Statistics Canada survey of graduates found the percentage of those with debt after getting a bachelor's degree hovered at around 50 per cent from 2000 to 2015, but the percentage owing $25,000 or more at graduation rose from 33 per cent to 45 per cent. The average debt for a bachelor's graduate as of 2015 was $28,000, up from $20,500 in 2000.

Furthermore, a 2019 study by insolvency firm Hoyes, Michalos & Associates Inc. called student debt in Canada a crisis, as it was increasingly a factor in insolvency filings.

Student debt contributed to a record 17.6 per cent of insolvencies in Ontario in 2018, the study found. If the situation was similar in other provinces, then approximately 22,000 ex-students could have filed for insolvency that year in connection with school-related debts, Hoyes, Michalos & Associates said.

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The study also found the average insolvent student debtor owed $46,373 in unsecured loans, including $14,729 in student debt, with rising tuition costs seen as the driving force behind the red ink. Moreover, while poor financial management was viewed as the leading cause of debt issues, nearly a third of student debtors said that employment and income problems had added to those concerns.

Graduates leaving university often end up working in unpaid internships, part-time positions, and minimum wage jobs, the Hoyes study said. They are increasingly unable to find a stable job with enough income to support both student loan repayment and living expenses.

(Graduates) are increasingly unable to find a stable job with enough income to support both student loan repayment and living expenses

That employment picture has been made much worse by COVID-19, and particularly so for younger people. Statistics Canada reported employment among those aged 15 to 24 was still 17.4 per cent less in July than it was in February. Read more