Bridging the generation gap, financially

By Béatrice St-Cyr-Leroux Jun 8th, 2026

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In 5 seconds Having well-off grandparents can make it easier for students to afford to go to university—and even compensate for having low-income parents.

The study suggests that there is a direct link between grandparents' income and the likelihood that their grandchildren will go on to pursue postsecondary education.
Photo : Getty

It has long been understood that parents’ income plays a major role in children’s access to higher education. But a new study suggests that grandparents’ income matters, too.

By analyzing multigenerational tax data, researchers at Université de Montréal found a direct and significant correlation between grandparents’ earnings and the likelihood that their grandchildren will pursue postsecondary education.

Led by Solène Lardoux, a professor in UdeM's Department of Demography and Population Sciences, the researchers also found that grandparents can mitigate the impact of parents’ poorer financial situation.

And that's especially true when it comes to entry into undergraduate programs..

“Children who grew up in low-income families were at less of a disadvantage if their grandparents had high incomes, regardless of the child’s gender,” Lardoux said.

However, the offsetting impact of grandparents is moderate and diminishes when other factors, such as parents’ education and occupation, are controlled for.

Grandparents can influence their grandchildren’s educational paths in several ways: direct financial assistance, material support, or providing a stable family environment.

Lardoux suggested that future research could explore differences in the influence of maternal and paternal grandparents, and grandmothers and grandfathers.

Tax data mined

The study mined Canadian tax records (T1 forms), which were originally designed for fiscal purposes. By crossing the tax forms with census data, the researchers were able to reconstruct family ties among children, parents and grandparents, even when they didn’t live under one roof.

This method allowed the researchers to move beyond the traditional definition of a household, which is generally limited to people living in the same home, and opened the door to a more nuanced analysis of multigenerational relationships, even as families become increasingly geographically dispersed.

However, the analyses were based on a limited sample: due to confidentiality protocols, the researchers were able to access only 20 per cent of the tax returns. This restricted their ability to observe the full range of family ties, including full sibling groups and extended family networks.

Wide disparities still

The study also found wide disparities in access to post-secondary education, especially at the extremes.

Young people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds still face significant barriers to a university education. Even when grandparents have substantial resources, low parental income or education levels continue to hinder academic trajectories.

In a country such as Canada, with its robust social programs and student aid systems, one might expect greater equality of opportunity, Lardoux commented.

“And social mobility may in fact be overestimated when the analysis is limited to two generations,” she said. “The cycles seem to carry over across several generations, resulting in long-term transmission of social inequalities.”

Policies are limited

Lardoux said the study highlights the limitations of current policies in addressing accumulated disadvantages within families.

While demography is primarily a descriptive field, Lardoux does suggest possible solutions. She believes it is important to reduce the extent to which educational trajectories depend on a family’s resources.

This would require better support for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, expanded scholarship programs, and policies that more directly support access to postsecondary education, she said.

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