Education Fees Research Articles

The socio-economic impacts of AIDS on families caring for AIDS-orphaned children in Mbeya rural district, Tanzania

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the socio-economic impacts of AIDS on families caring for AIDS-orphaned children in Mbeya rural district, Tanzania.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative inquiry employing one-on-one in-depth interviews was conducted in 2015. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit participants (n=24) comprising 20 heads of families caring for AIDS-orphaned children, two local government staff and two staff from Isangati Agricultural Development Organisation – a non-government organisation. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic and framework approach.FindingsResults demonstrated that families caring for AIDS-orphaned children experienced severe socio-economic impacts of the epidemic. Reduction in household savings, increase in living expenses on health care and increased education fees were the identified economic impacts on these families. Social impacts included labour shortage, withdrawal of children from school and increased demand for food.Social implicationsThere is a need for urgent responses and for scaling up programmes delivered by organisations, institutions and the government of Tanzania to help families cope with these impacts.Originality/valueThis study provides evidence on socio-economic impacts of AIDS on families caring for AIDS-orphaned children in Tanzania. An understanding of these impacts can help governmental and non-governmental institutions and programme planners to address the problem in their policies and develop evidence-based strategies and interventions in responding to the problem in Mbeya and Tanzania. Moreover, responses to reducing the impacts of AIDS on families require a holistic approach that encourages the involvement of all sectors and agents outside of the health sector.

The effect of different higher education fee policies on education

PurposeHigher education (HE) sectors form an important part of societies and their economy, on which the members of a society depend for their individual and collective future benefit. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the perceptions of accounting academics on the introduction of HE tuition fees in both England and Germany, and how this policy has affected the everyday life of academics and students alike in each country. The respective funding and reform approach sets the context of this study.Design/methodology/approachThe study has adopted a qualitative methodology, analysing data collected through semi-structured interviews. Accounting academics discuss their perceptions of both policies in the respective context. Academics were focussed on as implementers of educational policies. Accounting academics were chosen due to their academic and professional background, changing academic position in the global market and their representative stance in the academic context. The data analysis took place through coding interview data.FindingsWhile England’s fees have been increased several times over the past 15 years, few German federal states have introduced, and have already abolished the policy. Reasons as to why the outcomes are so radically different are discussed based on interviews with accounting academics, and the implications for future practice are that to be successful political support must be sustained regardless of the changing governments, and the HE sector itself must have strong champions supporting this policy. Furthermore, the effect of the respective tuition fee policy with regard to education is addressed, which suggests that English students have a broader education package expectation, while with regard to actual classroom education both German and English students have similar outlooks. A further issue is the different political and education contexts, the current state of affairs and the societal impact.Originality/valueThis study is one of the few to compare directly the differing tuition fee policies and the educational implications of these policies of Germany and England. These two cases are an illustration that Germany and England are at the opposite ends of the reform spectrum and that academics experience different expectations due to such different fee policies.

Unmasking the ramifications of the fees-must-fall-conundrum in higher education institutions in South Africa: A critical perspective

The purpose of this study was to explore the ramifications of the fees-must-fall-protests that rocked South Africa’s universities for a couple of months in the years 2015 and 2016. Using a critical perspective, the thesis of the study is that the shutting down of universities in the context of student protests was neither unique nor original to South Africa for it has been a preferred weapon of repression by dictators all over the world. Several post-independence African governments invoke this weapon many times to silence dissenting voices. The data to embellish arguments in this study were gathered through focus group discussion interview sessions (FGDIS) from 40 participants purposefully sampled from 26 South African universities. The analysis of data followed a thematic approach with themes emerging from the FGDIS forming the basis of the discussion of the findings. Chief among the findings was that despite the salutary role of student protests as a force for social change well-established and never being gainsaid, higher education fees needs to fall, albeit cautiously. The fees-must-fall protests raised an important consciousness of how challenging a colonised education system can lead to academic disruptions. The key conclusion drawn was that if tuition fees dry up as would be the case if a fee-free decolonised education policy were to be adopted prematurely, the country could suffer severe consequences such as inevitable budget cuts, compromised research standards, demoralised academics and curtailed university offerings. The recommendations made included a need for governmental commitment to calm the students’ temper tantrums before they spiral out of control and for curriculum decolonisation advocates to denounce the government’s repressive tendencies if a truly decolonised education system is to be realised.

Analysis of Employment of Women Salaries in Family and its Impact on the Status of Family of Kota City

<div><p><em>This paper seeks to </em><em>analyse the relationship between the women’s opinion for the extent of employment of their income in different heads of family and its overall effect on family status of Kota city. </em><em>This analysis of women participants’ opinion of Kota city for the factors of family which are nourished by their income are </em><em>Financial Position and Status, Societal Status and Position, Living Standard and Statue, Education of Children, Family and Personal Health Security, Quality of life and Risk taking capabilities</em><em>. Distribution of women participants’ opinion for application of their salaries in different expenditure heads of family are: in constructing home, in buying cars and automobiles, in education fees, in </em><em>Insurance / Family Security, in Recreation and Leisure time, in Saving and Deposits / Investments, in Routine Expenses, in Medical and Health Issues, and in Paying Taxes. </em><em>Their opinion might be influenced by the age group, educational qualification and current sector of their job. </em><em>It has been an </em><em>empirical study involving a questionnaire collected from 450 working women respondents working in Kota city, Rajasthan. A deep analysis of the findings will be discussed in this paper.</em><em></em></p></div>

Students, markets and social justice: Higher education fee and student support policies in Western Europe and beyond

Students, markets and social justice: Higher education fee and student support policies in Western Europe and beyond

The evolution of the student as a customer in Australian higher education: a policy perspective

In 2014, the Australian Federal Government attempted to de-regulate higher education fees so as to allow universities to set their own tuition fees. The associated public debate offer critical insights into how the identity of a student as a ‘customer’ of higher education is understood and deployed when developing higher education policy. This paper uses the 2014 Australian higher education reforms as a lens through which to further scholarly research into the student-as-customer metaphor and to see how it is influenced by the perceptions and understandings of policy actors external to the higher education sector. These include politicians, special interest groups, the students and their parents and prospective employers. This study reveals that the public/private nexus—both of funding and benefit—problematizes traditional conceptualisations of students and others as higher education customers. In turn, this restricts the ability or desire of policy actors to describe how the student functions as a customer as a consequence of market reform. This inability compromises the development of effective and sustainable higher education policy.

The Impact of Educational Fee Reduction Reform on School Enrolment in Rural China

ABSTRACTWe investigate the impact of educational fee reduction reform on children’s school enrolment in rural China. Using data from Gansu Survey of Children and Families, we find that the reform did not have significant impacts on school enrolment of 9–12 year old children, while the reform had significant impacts on school enrolment of 13–16 year old children. We also find that for children enrolled in 2004, the higher are the fee reductions, the higher is the probability for them to stay in school in 2007. Heterogeneous effects in terms of different characteristics are also found in this paper.

Did tuition fees in Germany constrain students’ budgets? New evidence from a natural experiment

Less than a decade ago, several German states introduced tuition fees for university education. Despite their comparatively low level of about €500 per semester, fees were perceived by the public to increase social injustice and have been abolished recently. Whereas other studies have shown no effect on enrollment, we analyze the effects on students’ budgets. To identify causal effects, we exploited the natural experiment established by the introduction of fees. Tuition fees decrease total expenditure moderately by about 4 %. With regard to financial resources, students are more likely to receive support from parents or take out a loan. JEL codes: I22, I28, H75

Education and training in a model of endogenous growth with creative wear-and-tear

How does the rate at which firms adopt new technologies affect the level of education and training of a country’s workforce? What is then the mix of general education and technology-specific training that maximises the growth rate of an economy? We try to answer these questions by developing an endogenous growth model which focuses on privately financed general education and firm financed technology specific training in a setting where creative destruction renders technologies gradually obsolete. We reproduce some stylized facts regarding the technology-education-training relationship and we show how the optimum amount of time devoted to education and training is affected by the rate of technical change itself. In particular, we find that a faster arrival of new technologies shifts the private knowledge portfolio towards general human capital, less prone to creative destruction. We also find that households tend to under-invest in education, thus leading to lower growth rates than technically feasible, and higher training costs than absolutely necessary. This suggests that there is room for education policy reducing private education fees.

REFORMASI PENDIDIKAN DI ERA OTONOMI DAERAH: KAJIAN MAKNA ATAS KEBIJAKAN BIAYA PENDIDIKAN

Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Table Normal; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Times New Roman;} This study tries to describe the policy of a senior high school concerning its educational fee. Utilizing a qualitative approach, this study involved primary-source subjects such as the headmaster, deputy headmasters, teachers, and school committee, as well as secondary-source subjects such as local leaders and parents. Data were collected through observation, in-depth interview, and document study, the results of this study indicate that the one year academic program was realized using the budget which was clearly set in the School Budget and Expenditure Plan. In addition, this plan was used as the guide to provide the school needs, both short-term and long term needs.

Hubert Ertl and Claire Dupuy (eds), Students, markets and social justice: Higher education fee and student support policies in Western Europe and beyond

Hubert Ertl and Claire Dupuy (eds), <i>Students, markets and social justice: Higher education fee and student support policies in Western Europe and beyond</i>

Vulnerability and Children's Real-Life Schooling Experiences in Swaziland

IntroductionIn the year 2016, alone, Swaziland had about 150,000 vulnerable children in the country's schools-a drastic increase from 78,000 in 2015 (Simelane, 2016). The Kingdom of Swaziland (2010) defines a vulnerable child as one, with or without parents, who lacks the basic needs for survival, and is living in circumstances with high risk, and whose prospects for health, growth, and development are seriously impaired, mostly due to the effects of HIV and AIDS. Within the Swaziland education system, vulnerable children are considered to include orphans, children living in child-headed households, and those from poor social and economic backgrounds. Vulnerable children are locally referred to as bantfwana bendlunkhulu [those cared for by the whole community] and whose educational fees are paid by the government. Although the reasons that render children vulnerable may differ, for instance, orphaned children, those experiencing childhood poverty, and children living in child-headed households in Swaziland, these children share one thing-and that is vulnerability and poverty (Nordtveit, 2010). It is against this backdrop that the study adopted the concept of vulnerable children in order to understand the shared real-life schooling experiences of these children. Although the article is about vulnerable children's experiences within school (or learning) spaces, we avoided referring to them as vulnerable learners so as to emphasise the social (rather than the didactical) dimensions of the vulnerable children's real-life schooling experiences.In 1990, Swaziland committed itself to the Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG) aimed at focusing on poverty and the needs of all children by 2015 (Khumalo, 2013). The country also became a signatory to the Dakar Framework for Action: Education for All, which formed the basis for inclusive educational policies in the country (Kingdom of Swaziland, 2011). By signing these declarations, the state devoted itself to improving education, especially for the most vulnerable and underprivileged children in the country (UNESCO, 2000). Guided by these conventions, in 2003, the government of Swaziland introduced the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children's (OVC) fund to cater for vulnerable children's educational fees (Kingdom of Swaziland, 2012). The country's constitution of 2005 also offered a legal framework for the rights of all children and set an objective of free primary education (Kingdom of Swaziland, 2005). In 2011, the Ministry of Education and Training consequently designed the Education Sector Policy, which was underpinned by international, regional, and national declarations on the rights of all children. This policy outlines the state's goals towards the improvement of vulnerable children's lives by identifying, monitoring, and accommodating their educational needs (Kingdom of Swaziland, 2011).Even after adopting the aforementioned conventions, laws, and policies, Swaziland has not fully succeeded in implementing them at a practical level (Sukati, 2013). For example, Nordtveit (2010) found that school practices, and teachers in Swaziland, still exclude vulnerable children; and these children were also found to have a predisposition for exploitation and sexual abuse by some teachers (Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse, 2013), which forces them to drop out of school (Nordtveit, 2010) at a higher rate than children who are not regarded as vulnerable. Such a scenario increases vulnerable children's risk of being trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and vulnerability because it deprives them of their right to education, which is a prerequisite for a better and gracious later life. It actually contravenes vulnerable children's right to basic learning needs of fair and dignified treatment, which is necessary for them to complete quality school education (UNESCO, 2000) as ratified by the Dakar Framework for Action, to which Swaziland subscribes. Clearly, more needs to be done, therefore, to comprehend the daily life experiences of vulnerable children in light of these possible policy-practice discrepancies. …

Implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme: A Study from Rajasthan

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is one of the flagship programme initiated to address the issues of poverty and livelihood at a larger level. The present study tries to analyze the impact of this scheme on the BPL families. Involvement of gram panchayat in implementation and monitoring of this scheme is also subjected for analysis. Samples for the present study constitute beneficiaries of MGNREGS from 121 Below Poverty Line families in the two villages of Ladnun Block of Rajasthan. Case studies, FGDs, in-depth interviews and observation methods were also employed. Purposive sampling method was used for selection of village and beneficiaries. Information from the secondary sources available at Planning Commission, Ministry of Rural Development, State Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department were also utilized for the study. It was found that the cases of women getting involved in NREGA activities were very much encouraging. Their involvement had contributed to improve the living conditions of the household. Women beneficiaries spent the money to create household assets, purchase of artificial designing jewelry, clothes and paid fees for education of their children. Half of the beneficiaries were mentioned they only got Rs 60/-per day and they were not aware of the reasons for low rate of payment. They were appreciated the timely payment of money. Their major suggestion was to create creche facility for their children at nearby working sites. It is evident from the study that the interventions of Gram panchayat on monitoring part are lacking at the different levels.

Magnitude of Out of Pocket Health Expenditures and Associated Factors among Civil Servants

&lt;p&gt;In Ethiopia, as other developing countries, public health care is provided at nominally low prices and free to those that does not afford to pay. But the health care consumer population is still to make considerable amount of out-of-pocket health expenditure for various reasons. A cross sectional quantitative study from January to May 2013 was done. Study population was civil servants in Debre Markos town. A total of 467&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;study participants were selected by using simple random sampling method. Data were collected by trained high school graduates and then the collected data were entered into a computer by using Epi-Data version 3.1 and analysis was performed by using SPSS version 16 for windows. Possible associations between out of pocket health expenditure and its predictors were analyzed by using both bivariate and multivariate analysis.&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;The mean age of the study participants were 41 years. Majorities were between 25 and 44 years of age, 258 (55.2%). The level of education among the study participants indicated that most 380 (81.4%) were graduates of higher education (HE) and majority were Orthodox Christian which accounted 446 (95.5%) followed by Muslims 13 (2.8%). To put it briefly, the study identified that the median of out of pocket health care expenditure accounted 8.26% of total household income. Health status of the household (with or without chronic illness), debt on any of the household, house on construction owned by any household member, educational fee for at least one member of the household and predominantly used health institution were the associated factors that have significant impact on household out of pocket health expenditure. &lt;strong&gt;T&lt;/strong&gt;here is economic burden as a result of health care at household level. Based on the results, the recommendation was introducing social health insurance for all civil servant employees in the study area.&lt;/p&gt;

Magnitude of Out of Pocket Health Expenditures and Associated Factors among Civil Servants

&lt;p&gt;In Ethiopia, as other developing countries, public health care is provided at nominally low prices and free to those that does not afford to pay. But the health care consumer population is still to make considerable amount of out-of-pocket health expenditure for various reasons. A cross sectional quantitative study from January to May 2013 was done. Study population was civil servants in Debre Markos town. A total of 467&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;study participants were selected by using simple random sampling method. Data were collected by trained high school graduates and then the collected data were entered into a computer by using Epi-Data version 3.1 and analysis was performed by using SPSS version 16 for windows. Possible associations between out of pocket health expenditure and its predictors were analyzed by using both bivariate and multivariate analysis.&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;The mean age of the study participants were 41 years. Majorities were between 25 and 44 years of age, 258 (55.2%). The level of education among the study participants indicated that most 380 (81.4%) were graduates of higher education (HE) and majority were Orthodox Christian which accounted 446 (95.5%) followed by Muslims 13 (2.8%). To put it briefly, the study identified that the median of out of pocket health care expenditure accounted 8.26% of total household income. Health status of the household (with or without chronic illness), debt on any of the household, house on construction owned by any household member, educational fee for at least one member of the household and predominantly used health institution were the associated factors that have significant impact on household out of pocket health expenditure. &lt;strong&gt;T&lt;/strong&gt;here is economic burden as a result of health care at household level. Based on the results, the recommendation was introducing social health insurance for all civil servant employees in the study area.&lt;/p&gt;

Activation Measures for Rural Education Farms in Korea

The Purpose of this study is to analyze the importance and satisfaction on the items related to rural education farm management. The survey was carried out on the operators of rural education farm from October 6th, 2014 to April 30th, 2015, and 144 questionnaires were used for the final analysis. According to the analysis result, In the first quadrant, the environment of the farms(safety of the education farms, accessibility to the farms) and the existing customer management(dealing actively with the customer complaints, consulting with schools regarding the hands-on education and the feedbacks) were included. In the second quadrant, fourteen items were included. To mention these items in detail, the environment of the farms(lounge area for the guiding teachers), customer management(diversification of the publicity for the education farms, efforts to secure loyal customers, efforts to create new customers), campaigns of publicity and contents of publicity management(diversification of the publicity channels for education farms, off-line contents management, on-line contents management), ensuring professionalism(worksheet development and utilization, periodical supplemental education for operators), hands-on education programs(new program development, customized program development, distinguished program development), costs(efforts for cost reduction, fees for hands-on education) were included. In the third quadrant, the environment of the farms(size of the education farms), publicity activities and publicity contents management(enthusiastic publicity activities), strengthening professionalism(participation in the training programs related to rural education farm management) and in the fourth quadrant, the environment of the farms(environmentally-friendly and aesthetic natural landscape, convenient facilities such as powder rooms and washstands, parking lots) were included.

Tuition Fee Reform in Germany

The introduction of tuition fees has brought about a longterm debate in Germany. While the majority of political actors and institutional decision makers wanted tuition fees in the higher education sector, the various stakeholder groups failed to agree on who should gain access to the extra revenue and thus blocked the policy decision. The responsible state government ministries wanted to save money by reducing the budget allocations to higher education institutions based on the income provided by tuition fees. The rectors and presidents rejected this idea and voted against tuition fees as long as state governments did not offer guarantees that institutions could invest this extra income, in particular for the improvement of teaching quality. Politically, the Social Democrats opposed and the Christian Democrats favored the introduction of tuition fees. Gradually, tuition fees have been introduced on the margins of the German higher education system. First, tuition fees were charged for continuing academic education and lifelonglearning provisions. Then the German states started to demand tuition fees from students who were enrolled more than four semesters beyond the standard period. The administrative fees for student reenrollments each semester increased as well. The last amendment to the German Higher Education Framework Law under the Social Democratic coalition government in 2002 included an explicit prohibition of tuition fees for undergraduate programs. Six of the German states—all of them governed by the Christian Democrats or a conservative coalition—brought action to the Constitutional Court, calling the federal government’s prohibition of fees an unconstitutional interference into the budgetary autonomy of the states with regard to higher education. In January 2005 the Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the German states—declaring the prohibition of tuition fees under the Higher Education Framework Law to be unconstitutional and allowing the states to levy tuition fees. The controversial debate intensified. The court’s decision seemed not only to be the beginning of the end of any higher education framework law guaranteeing a certain amount of systemic uniformity but also evidence of a change from the idea of education as a public good to the idea of education as a private good. The Present Reform Soon after the decision, the first German states announced their intent to introduce tuition fees. The general idea was to ask for 500 euros per semester in all subjects. Most of the states kept their previous regulations regarding administration fees for reenrollment and tuition fees for long-term students and continuing academic education provisions. In addition, the majority of states are about to introduce fees for undergraduate and graduate education. But there are considerable policy differences among the 16 German states. All the eastern German states as well as Berlin, regardless which political party is in power, are currently not planning to introduce tuition fees. They hope to have a competitive advantage and thus be able attract those German students into their higher education institutions who want to avoid paying tuition fees. In addition, Rhineland-Palatinate is also not planning to introduce tuition fees. The remaining nine German states plan

The Returns to the Federal Tax Credits for Higher Education

Three tax credits benefit households who pay tuition and fees for higher education. The credits have been justified as an investment by generating more educated people and thus more earnings and externalities associated with education. The credits have also been justified purely as tax cuts to benefit the middle class. In 2009, the generosity of and eligibility for the tax credits expanded enormously so that their 2011 cost was $25 billion. Using selected, de-identified data from the population of potential filers, we show how the credits are distributed across households with different incomes. We estimate the causal effects of the federal tax credits using two empirical strategies (regression kink and simulated instruments), which we show to be strong and very credibly valid for this application. The latter strategy exploits the massive expansion of the credits in 2009. We present causal estimates of the credits’ effects on postsecondary attendance, the type of college attended, the resources experienced in college, tuition paid, and financial aid received. We discuss the implications of our findings for society’s return on investment and for the tax credits’ budget neutrality over the long term (whether higher lifetime earnings generate sufficient taxes to recoup the tax expenditures). We assess several explanations as to why the credits appear to have negligible causal effects.

English

Domestic workers have been in existence throughout the Ethiopian history. However, there is no detail study about the actual conditions of the domestic workers. This means information about domestic workers is quite absent. Hence, this research intends to fill this knowledge gap by studying at least the educational conditions of domestic workers in Bahir Dar city administration in Amhara region. The study employed case study research design which includes solely a qualitative approach. The data were gathered from purposively selected interviewees, focus group discussants and key informants. The data were analyzed using thematic qualitative analysis technique. The study found that the major challenges of the domestic workers to access education are low wages, burden of work, time constraints, educational fee and unintended pregnancy. And the opportunities, are the existence of night school program and educational/stationery material support. Based on the findings the study recommended that governmental and non-governmental charity organizations should work to create strong income generating mechanisms for the domestic workers. Public discussion forums should be conducted to raise the awareness of employers regarding the overall situation of domestic workers. Strict labor laws should be introduced and implemented. And the existing activity of educational material support should be strengthened. Key words: Domestic work, education and female.

Does Welfare Enable Family Expenditures on Human Capital? Evidence from China

Summary Using the national China Household Income Project 2007 urban survey data and a propensity score matching method, this article investigates whether welfare receipt helped enable low-income families to spend more on human capital. We find that welfare recipient families prioritized spending in health and education relative to their non-recipient peers. Welfare particularly helped poor families afford medical care, medicine, tuition and fees for noncompulsory education, private tutoring for children, and purchasing of textbooks. We find some evidence that welfare helped recipient families pay for maintenance fees for their residence, but receiving welfare also deterred families from having leisure activities.