Student Financing of Higher Education ─ A Comparative Perspective

The financing of higher education is undergoing great change in many countries around the world. In recent years many countries are moving from a system where the costs of funding higher education are shouldered primarily by taxpayers, through government subsidies, to one where students pay a larger share of the costs. There are a number of factors driving these trends, including:

• A push for massification of higher education, in the recognition that additional revenue streams are required above and beyond those funds available from governments in order to achieve higher participation rates
• Macroeconomic factors, which lead to constraints on overall government revenues
• Political factors, which manifest in demands for funding of over services, thus restricting the funding available for higher (tertiary) education
• A concern that the returns to higher education accrue primarily to the individual, rather than to society, and thus students should bear more of the burden of paying for it

This volume will help to contribute to an understanding of how these trends occur in various countries and regions around the world, and the impact they have on higher education institutions, students, and society as a whole. With contributions for the UK, USA, South Africa and China this vital new book gives a truly global picture of the rapidly changing situation

Donald E. Heller is Dean of the College of Education and Professor in the Department of Educational Administration at Michigan State University.

Claire Callender is Professor of Higher Education Policy at Birkbeck College and Professor of Higher Education Studies at the Institute of Education, University of London.