Shifts in the Financing of Higher Education

Abstract

The increasing role and share of education loans in financing higher education tend to strengthen the nexus between expansion and deepening of the private sector in higher education and privatization of public higher education. It is however unambiguous that reduction in state finances led to a surge in private sector expansion which led to increasing education loans. Expansion in private higher education is pronounced in the market-oriented courses – the same trend getting reflected in the course choice of students who took education loans. Market orientation is reflected in course choices and thereby leading to higher education loans. However, such multiple yet parallel changes led to a structural shift in both the provision and financing of higher education. This indicates that market and state resources are being substituted. Though, there has been a reassertion that the private sector can play a vital role only in supplementing the government’s efforts, yet the trends indicate otherwise.