HRSDC-IC-SSHRC Skills Research Initiative

Working Paper Series

Recent Changes to Student Loan and Tuition-Setting Policies in Post-Secondary Education: Comparing Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom
by Saul Schwartz.

• Request this document (Format: PDF, 572 KB)

Abstract

Programs that allow students to repay their student loan on an income-contingent basis now exist in several countries, including Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. From time to time, the idea of creating a Canadian income-contingent repayment program is raised in policy discussions. The issue of how tuition fees are set is related to income-contingent loan repayment both historically — income-contingent loan programs were introduced along with significant changes in tuition fees — and politically — some see the introduction of an income-contingent repayment loan program as an excuse to raise tuition fees. This report focuses on the empirical experience of Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom with their income-contingent loan programs and with their attempts to decentralize fee setting. A limited set of lessons for Canada is raised and discussed in the concluding section.