Financing Higher Education: European viewpoint

Parents Forum
1

<p>This sets the tone for the article:</p>

<p>"Higher education faces problems throughout the world: universities are underfunded, raising worries about quality; student support is inadequate; the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds is lamentably small; and the financing of universities in many countries is regressive, since the money comes from general taxation but the major beneficiaries are from better-off backgrounds. …/…</p>

<p>A second lesson from economic theory is that students should contribute to the cost of their degree. Higher education creates benefits that transcend the individual—benefits in terms of growth, social cohesion, and the transmission of values. Thus, taxpayer subsidies are rightly part of the landscape. However, students also receive significant (often substantial) private benefits. It is therefore both efficient and fair that they bear some of the costs.
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<p>I believe that it offers a fascinating counterpoint to many of our own discussions. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2005/06/barr.htm[/url]”>http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2005/06/barr.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

2

<p>I think most of us support that thinking. Shared benefit-shared cost.</p>

3

<p>I think it’s hard to compare the US university system to the European one. The whole idea of who gets to go is completely different.</p>