This article draws together recent work by these authors from a number of sources including ‡, and §. We are extremely grateful to the funders of this work, who include the Nuffield Foundation (grant number OPD/00294/G), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) through the Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy at IFS (grant number M535255111) and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) through the Centre for the Economics of Education (CEE). We acknowledge useful comments from participants at the 2nd Mass Higher Education in UK and International Contexts Seminar in February 2007; the 2006 Royal Economic Society Annual Conference; the Department for Education and Skills CEE conference in June 2007; the Geary Behavioural Seminar Series at University College Dublin in March 2006; the Nuffield Foundation Education Seminar on 24 May 2006; the 2006 Arne Ryde Symposium on Higher Education Finance at Lund University, Sweden; and the Poverty and Applied Microeconomics Seminar at the World Bank in May 2005.
1468-0297/asset/olbannerleft.gif?v=1&s=1af3b26d7b3c49289a4d2ffedc5d9b29e681ebe0)
1468-0297/asset/ecoj_centre.gif?v=1&s=011eaeeafeffba596483ec623ce4b679dbe5c83f)
1468-0297/asset/ecoj_right.gif?v=1&s=af2049451bcddd5018e9fd2c36fddf34bc9e0a5c)
Higher Education Funding Reforms in England: The Distributional Effects and the Shifting Balance of Costs†
Article first published online: 17 JAN 2008
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2007.02118.x
Additional Information
How to Cite
Dearden, L., Fitzsimons, E., Goodman, A. and Kaplan, G. (2008), Higher Education Funding Reforms in England: The Distributional Effects and the Shifting Balance of Costs. The Economic Journal, 118: F100–F125. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2007.02118.x
- †
Publication History
- Issue published online: 17 JAN 2008
- Article first published online: 17 JAN 2008
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
This article undertakes a quantitative analysis of substantial reforms to the system of higher education (HE) finance in England, first announced in 2004 and revised in 2007. The reforms introduced deferred fees for HE, payable by graduates through the tax system via income-contingent repayments on loans subsidised by the government. The article uses lifetime earnings simulated by the authors to consider the likely distributional consequences of the reforms for graduates. It also considers the costs of the reforms for taxpayers, and how the reforms are likely to shift the balance of funding for HE between the public and private sectors.