There is No Such Thing as Free Higher Education: A Global Perspective on the (Many) Realities of Free Systems

In the past few years, many countries around the world have debated the financing of higher education. Increasingly, claims emerge that higher education should be free. This article analyses the rationales behind the establishment and sustaining of free tuition higher education systems to understand the current fervour. It then outlines the global contemporary landscape of free higher education, by taking a close look at those countries that currently have free higher education and what is meant by ‘free’ in different contexts. The many realities behind the term ‘free higher education’ show that it is a policy that is hard to sustain and hides many different scenarios, notably in terms of access and success in higher education

Free Higher Education: Mistaking Equality and Equity

Free higher education is seeing a revival of popularity globally at a time whenstudents and their families are asked to contribute ever more toward the cost of college.However, contrary to popular belief, free-tuition higher education is not necessarilyassociated with better access to, or equity within, tertiary education. This article takes acloser look at the realities behind “free” higher education, more specifically in itsrelationship with access

Chilean Universities: Not So Tuition-free After All

In 2011, massive student demonstrations disturbed the proper functioning of universities, with students making free higher education one of their key demands. In 2013, Michele Bachelet, a socialist, was elected president - free higher education being one of her most important electoral promises. This article summarizes the "Short Tuition Free Act" of December 2015 in Chile which is supposed to be the first step toward a free tuition higher education for all. It analyses the current conditions under which students can have access to subsidized tuition and the pitfalls of the current law. It also provides critics of the current approach and questions the possibility of implementing a free for all policy

Graduate indebtedness: its perceived effects on behaviour and life choices – a literature review

Around the world, student loan debt is rising. Growing numbers of students rely on student loans to pay for their higher education and their levels of borrowing are increasing compared with previous decades. In countries like England it is anticipated that the majority of graduates will be repaying their loans for most of their working lives. For many, having student loan debt is no longer a short-term status and it is becoming the new normal. There is now value in exploring how student loan debt influences individuals’ choices, behaviour and life events once they have left higher education. Yet, the academic literature on the impact of student loan debt on decisions made after leaving higher education and later in life is scarce. The few studies available, mostly based in the US, tend to show that individuals with student loan debt make different career choices, delay buying a home, have worse mental health, and are less well-off financially throughout their lifetime as well as being less prepared for retirement. Student loan debt amongst women is also negatively related to family formation. The possible critical impact of student loan debt on the future of our societies and economies calls for further research to fill the gaps in this limited extant literature. This includes moving beyond its US-focus, its dependence on secondary datasets, and its narrow focus within a small number of disciplines. Future research should aim to improve and expand methodological research designs, in particular by using qualitative methods, analysing longitudinal datasets, improving sampling, and trying to show causality. Questions asked in these studies should encompass such issues as the evaluation of possible delays in decision-making, the difference between completers and non-completers, the importance of attitude to debt, and the impact of different student loan repayment plans

Hidden voices: graduates’ perspectives on the student loan system in England

Since the 1990s England’s higher education funding system has been reformed many times, leading to a system predicated on high tuition fees and student loans. In 2021, there are once again debates about how to build a sustainable and fair funding system, while reducing public expenditure on higher education. Yet these debates are missing something essential: the voices of graduates. Graduates have distinctive and personal knowledge and understanding of the realities of repaying student loans and how the different features of the loan shape the burden of their student debt. This research is based on the thematic analysis of 98 in-depth semi-structured interviews with English graduates – 48 of whom were subject to the 2006 funding regime (cohort 1) and 50 to the 2012 regime (cohort 2). The results provide much needed insights into graduates’ perspectives of, and feelings about, the English student loan system and its different features. Graduates experience student loan debt as a burden, albeit to different degrees. In cohort 2 especially, it is a more pressing concern – something they think about a lot and that causes stress and anxiety. In both cohorts the sheer size of their debts weighs upon graduates’ minds while the repayments feel endless, and their outstanding debt seems ever-growing because of the accrued interest. For those in cohort 2 the psychological burden of debt is exacerbated by the knowledge they will likely never repay their debt. However, even among those who are able to push their debt to the back of their minds or appear indifferent to it, there are strong negative emotional responses when reminded of the scale of their debt

The determinants of student loan take-up in England

Recent changes in higher education financing policies in England have led to more students funding their studies via two types of student loan – for tuition fees and/or for maintenance. Moreover, the average amount borrowed has been increasing. Yet not all students take out loans, and understanding the determinants of take-up is important, not least because those who can manage to study without borrowing enjoy significant advantages both during and after their studies. Using Next Steps, a unique dataset with data on both types of loan and rich information on students’ backgrounds and their attitudes to debt, we analyse loan take-up by type of loan. We estimate the strength of the association of loan take-up with each of students’ family income, indicators of family wealth (home ownership, private education, not living in a deprived area, social class), parental education, gender, ethnicity, and debt aversion. Of these, only social class is found to have no independent effect. We find that these associations can differ according to the type of debt. We also find that, while students from some disadvantaged groups are less likely to take out maintenance loans, this association is accounted for by students living at home while studying, a prime mechanism for debt avoidance

Does student loan debt structure young people’s housing tenure? Evidence from England

This article analyses the interaction between two policy areas affecting young people in England – housing and student funding. It is the first of its kind exploring a range of dynamics in the relationship between housing and student loan debt. Young people today are far less likely to own their home and are more likely to live with their parents than earlier generations. In parallel, higher education tuition fee increases have led to a growing share of students taking out loans and graduating with higher debt, which they will be repaying for most of their working lives. This research examines the relationship between student loans – having borrowed for higher education and attitudes towards debt – and housing tenure at age 25, using the Next Steps dataset. We find that young graduates who did not borrow for higher education are more likely to own their home and less likely to rent or live with their parents than graduates who borrowed for their studies or young people who never attended higher education. These results suggest that higher education funding policies and student loan debt play important roles in structuring young people’s housing in England

Comparing and learning from English and American higher education access and completion policies

England and the United States provide a very interesting pairing as countries with many similarities, but also instructive dissimilarities, with respect to their policies for higher education access and success. We focus on five key policy strands: student information provision; outreach from higher education institutions; student financial aid; affirmative action or contextualisation in higher education admissions; and programmes to improve higher education retention and completion. At the end, we draw conclusions on what England and the US can learn from each other. The US would benefit from following England in using Access and Participation Plans to govern university outreach efforts, making more use of income-contingent loans, and expanding the range of information provided to prospective higher education students. Meanwhile, England would benefit from following the US in making greater use of grant aid to students, devoting more policy attention to educational decisions students are making in early secondary school, and expanding its use of contextualised admissions. While we focus on England and the US, we think that the policy recommendations we make carry wider applicability. Many other countries with somewhat similar educational structures, experiences, and challenges could learn useful lessons from the policy experiences of these two countries

Survey of International Higher Education Readers

For the first time, we surveyed our readers concerning their views and perspectives in order to improve this publication. We are quite gratified by the very positive views expressed in the survey

Student loan debt: longer term implications for graduates in the United States and England

The introduction of cost-sharing policies, especially tuition fees and student loans, has helped fuel the global expansion of access to higher education. One of the consequences is rising student loan debt. In this chapter we explore research on the effect of student loan debt on life after the first degree, including graduate education, career choices, homeownership, family formation, health and financial well-being. Most studies are from the United States, supplemented with United Kingdom (UK) data where available