THE TRUE PRIVATE COST OF A “FREE” UNIVERSITY EDUCATION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY
Journal Title: Problems of Education in the 21st Century - Year 2018, Vol 76, Issue 4
Abstract
The ostensibly free university education in Greece actually has several private costs. A comparative research design was used to compare Greek families’ private expenditures for university education in 2014-2015 to families’ costs for the same education in the year 2000 to determine whether there have been any changes during ensuring years. Data were gathered from a 2014-2015 survey of a random sample of over 2.300 Greek frst-year university students and compared to results from a similar survey of over 3.000 frst-year university students conducted in the year 2000. Income elasticity of demand was the theoretical framework used to examine and compare results. As with the older survey data, it is shown that despite the “free education” supposedly available in Greece, families actually still spend more than the state in preparing students for and supporting them at a university. It is also demonstrated that lower-income families spend a higher share of income on a university education for their children, a discrepancy that has grown over the past 13 years. Finally, it is shown that private expenditures for a university education appear to remain a necessity in Greece, with income elasticity calculated at between 0.2 and 0.3. Results suggest the need to reallocate the Greek university budget to help relieve the fnancial burden on families of lower-income students. Results also suggest the importance of reducing the Greek emphasis on expensive preparation of secondary students for national university entrance examinations.
Authors and Affiliations
Marilou Ioakimidis, George Papakonstantinou
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP35541
- DOI -
- Views 364
- Downloads 0
CONSIDERING LIBERAL AND HUMANISTIC VALUES IN SCIENCE EDUCATION CURRICULUM
This paper examines current changes in the value-base of science education curricula. One of the theoretical instruments used to describe values in science education is the notion of “curriculum emphases” developed by...
AESOP’S FABLES REVISITED: VOLUNTEERING THROUGH INFORMAL LIFELONG LEARNING
Volunteering is an expression of active citizenship, which occurs in many sectors. It is a value which should be developed from an early age through formal and informal learning. Nevertheless, not enough emphasis is gi...
An ExplorAtion of indiViduAl diffErEncEs in tEAchErs’ tEmpErAmEnts And multiplE intElligEncEs
For this study on individual differences, predictions were made from the literature on the four temperaments in order to examine how teachers with particular temperaments might use their multiple intelligence strengths...
A COMPARISON OF MATHEMATICS PROFICIENCY AMONG ASIAN AND AMERICAN STUDENTS
In light of the commonly shared view that the United States is the global superpower, one may assume that the academic performance of the nation’s students exceeds all others. However, based on international study, the...
THE CHARACTERISTIC FREQUENCY BANDS ANALYSIS OF BRAIN WAVE DURING LEARNING.
The traditional E-learning often offers the online examination to assess the learning effect of a student after completion of the online learning. Basically, this traditional learning assessment mechanism is a passive an...