Pandemic is severely disrupting lives of postsecondary students, according to Statistics Canada

COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on Canadian college and university students, even as they're far less likely to become gravely ill from the disease than their grandparents.

According to Statistics Canada, the most common disruption has been a delay or cancellation of work placements.

In a survey of 100,000 postsecondary students from April 19 to May 1, this was cited by 35 percent of respondents.

"Just over one-quarter (26%) reported that some of their courses were postponed or cancelled by their institutions, including course work such as labs, applied learning and hands-on instruction that cannot be delivered online," the federal agency stated.

"A further 11% of participants indicated they were not able to complete their degree, diploma or certificate as planned, while 10% were not able to complete some of their winter-term courses."

More than half—54 percent—expressed that they were "very or extremely concerned" that their diploma, degree, or certificate would not be viewed as the equivalent of those credentials earned by students in a period not affected by COVID-19.

Among those who were employed at the beginning of March, 55 percent reported either losing their job or being laid off by May. Another 26 percent said they are working fewer hours.

Statistics Canada acknowledged that the data was not collected using "probability-based sampling", so the numbers cannot be applied to the overall population of students in Canada.

"However, the results provide a snapshot of the experiences of participating students and—given the large number of participants—offer valuable insights," it stated.