Higher Education Funding
Open accessAbstract
The expansion of higher education throughout the OECD—and beyond—is both necessary and desirable. But it is costly, and faces competing imperatives for public spending. Higher education finance is therefore salient to an extent that is not yet fully appreciated in all countries, and is also immensely sensitive politically. This paper sets out the core lessons for financing higher education deriving from economic theory and puts them alongside lessons from country experience. The UK reforms announced in 2004 are assessed against the backdrop of those two elements. A concluding section briefly maps out unfinished business.
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Higher education markets are inherently vulnerable to market failures that lead students to underinvest in college.
“Higher education markets are inherently vulnerable to market failures that lead students to underinvest in college (Barr, 2004).”
From College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions (2022) · cites this paper as Barr, 2004
The key challenge of a free university system is constrained funding, which can lead to declining quality, caps on quantity, and inefficient allocation of resources to the students most in-need.
“The key challenge of a free university system is constrained funding, which can lead to declining quality, caps on quantity, and inefficient allocation of resources to the students most in-need (Barr, 2004).”
From College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions (2022) · cites this paper as Barr, 2004
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Research works printed but not linked: 23
- Barr, Nicholas (1989), Student Loans: The Next Steps, Aberdeen University Press for the David Hume Institute and the Suntory-Toyota International Centre for Economics and Related Disciplines, London School of Economics and Political Science.
- Barr, Nicholas (1991), 'Income-Contingent Student Loans: An Idea Whose Time Has Come', in G. K. Shaw (ed.), Economics, Culture and Education: Essays in Honour of Mark Blaug, (Edward Elgar, 1991), pp. 155-170, reprinted in Nicholas Barr (2001b, Vol. III, pp. 583-600).
- Barr, Nicholas (1993), 'Alternative Funding Resources for Higher Education', Economic Journal, Vol 103, No 418, May 1993, pp. 718-728, reprinted in Belfield, Clive R. and Levin, Henry M. (eds), The Economics of Higher Education, The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics 165, Cheltenham and Northampton, Mass.: Edward Elgar, pp. 534-44.
- Barr, Nicholas (1998), 'Towards a "Third Way": Rebalancing the Role of the State', New Economy, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 71-6.
- Barr, Nicholas (2001a), The Welfare State as Piggy Bank: Information, Risk, Uncertainty, and the Role of the State, London and New York: Oxford University Press.
- Barr, Nicholas (ed.) (2001b), Economic Theory and the Welfare State, Vol. I: Theory, Vol. II: Income Transfers, and Vol. III: Benefits in Kind, Edward Elgar Library in Critical Writings in Economics (Cheltenham and Northampton, Mass: Edward Elgar).
- Barr, Nicholas (2004),The Economics of the Welfare State, 4th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, and Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
- Barr, Nicholas and Crawford, Iain (1998), 'The Dearing Report and the Government's Response: A Critique', The Political Quarterly, Vol. 69, No. 1, January -March 1998, pp. 72-84.
- Barr, Nicholas and Crawford, Iain (forthcoming), Financing higher education: Lessons from the UK, Routledge.
- Blundell, Richard, Dearden, Lorraine, Goodman, Alissa and Reed, Howard (2000), 'The Returns to Higher Education in Britain: Evidence from a British Cohort', Economic Journal, 110/461 (February), F82-F99.
- Brown R. (2000), 'The new UK Quality Framework', Higher Education Quarterly 54 (4) pp. 323- 342.
- Chapman, Bruce (1997), 'Conceptual Issues and the Australian Experience with Income Contingent Charges for Higher Education', Economic Journal, 107/442 (May), 738-51.
- Commonwealth of Australia (1998), Learning for Life: Review of Higher Education Financing and Policy: Final Report, Canberra: AGPS.
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- Glennerster, Howard, Merrett, Stephen, and Wilson, Gail (1968), 'A Graduate Tax', Higher Education Review, 1/1: pp. 26-38, reprinted in Barr (2001b: Vol. III, pp. 570-82), and in Higher Education Review 35/ 2 (Spring), pp. 25-40.
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- Kornai, János (1992), The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Palacios Lleras, Miguel (2004), Investing in Human Capital: A Capital Markets Approach to Student Funding, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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The end of free college in England: Implications for enrolments, equity, and quality
Murphy, R., Scott-Clayton, J., & Wyness, G. (2019) · Economics of Education Review · doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2018.11.007 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions
Dynarski, S., Page, L., & Scott-Clayton, J. (2022) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w30275 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Stevens, M. L., & Shibanova, E. (2021) · European Journal of Higher Education · doi:10.1080/21568235.2021.1944252 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
- Authors
- Barr, N.
- Affiliations
- London School of Economics and Political Science (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Barr, N.
- ORCID
- Barr, N.
- Venue
- Oxford Review of Economic Policy
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2004-06-01
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 264-283
- ISSN
- 0266-903X (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2121
- OpenAlex
- W2033132608
- Cited by
- 373
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 48 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 21
- FWCI
- 73.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Oxford Review of Economic Policy (publishedVersion)
- Corvinus Research Archive (Corvinus University of Budapest) (acceptedVersion)
- London School of Economics and Political Science Research Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- London School of Economics and Political Science Theses Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Magyarország Kormánya
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Higher Education Governance and Development
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Politics, Economics, and Education Policy
- Social Sciences › Education › Global Education Systems and Policies
- Keywords
- higher education funding, government spending, education policy
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