Offering more non-repayable student grants can further boost participation in higher education in countries where a significant proportion of the population has a degree, a new study has found.

Krzysztof Czarnecki and Tomas Korpi, both of the Swedish Institute for Social Research at Stockholm University, analysed enrolment data from 32 ¡°affluent democracies¡±, studying Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, Canada and Japan as well as 27 European countries. They determined that ¡°expansion of tertiary education is no longer a universal trend among affluent democracies¡±, with enrolment rising in only half of the analysed countries between 2006 and 2021 and falling in a quarter.

Speaking to ÌÇÐÄVlog, Czarnecki said the researchers asked the subsequent question: ¡°Is being more generous with student support actually associated with more people enrolling in the context of high participation higher education systems?¡± They ¡°wanted to look at the whole package ¨C grants, loans, tax benefits, family allowances for parents of students, and, of course, tuition fees¡±, he said.

The results, published in the journal , were surprising: ¡°We actually expected no association between student funding policies and enrolment ratios,¡± Czarnecki said.

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Using the Student Support and Fees Dataset, part of Stockholm University¡¯s Social Policy Indicators (SPIN) database, Czarnecki and Korpi determined that non-repayable student funding, such as grants, begins to influence enrolment rates when the proportion of adults with a degree exceeds 38 per cent.

¡°In general, just having more generous student funding doesn¡¯t necessarily lead to more people enrolling in higher education,¡± Czarnecki said. When tertiary education levels surpass 38 per cent, however, ¡°giving more non-repayable aid, like grants, can actually help push participation even higher¡±.

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¡°The impact of funding really depends on how far along a country already is in expanding access,¡± he said. Financial assistance may become ¡°critical¡± for further increasing enrolment in high participation countries once ¡°studying becomes a norm and having a degree is a necessity for higher-status jobs¡±, Czarnecki said, as non-repayable grants may enable students ¡°with lower incomes [who are] less inclined to take student loans¡± to participate in higher education.

The findings offer ¡°a few takeaways for policymakers¡±, Czarnecki said. ¡°If lots of people in your country are already going to university and you want to keep that number growing, you¡¯ll need to offer non-repayable support ¨C like grants ¨C especially to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, so they can actually afford to enrol.¡± Governments must further ensure that any fee increases do not cancel out the support offered by grants, he said: ¡°In the end, it¡¯s the net cost that really matters.¡±

¡°Loans by themselves aren¡¯t enough ¨C students from lower socio-economic backgrounds may be hesitant to take on debt,¡± Czarnecki added. ¡°Governments also need to make sure that offering more non-repayable support doesn¡¯t take away from funding for teaching or the ability of institutions to handle more students without lowering the quality of education.¡±

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com