A perverse welfare transfer!
That’s how Executive Director of the Caribbean Policy Research Institute, CAPRI, Dr Damien King, is describing the state financing model for students attending the University of the West Indies Mona.
He says state funded tertiary education in unequal societies like Jamaica, worsens inequality.
CAPRI has recommended an Income Contingent Loan Scheme which it says would help students from poor families to acquire a tertiary education.
The recommendation was made in a recent CAPRI report titled “Footing the Bill: The Hard Choices for Financing University Education.”
Dr King was speaking yesterday at a Generation 2000 Think Tank under the theme: Footing the Bill: Government Funding of Tertiary Education.
Stevian Sappleton has more.
CAPRI says financing tertiary education results in limited returns for the government and private sector companies.
It says three quarters of those who are tertiary educated migrate, and many refuse to work with companies which have financed their degrees.
CAPRI says students stand to benefit the most from being tertiary educated.
And it says it’s the students who should finance their tertiary studies, using manageable student loans.
According to Dr King, the average income of households of students attending universities, is significantly higher than the households of students who do not.
He says children from poor and struggling households are less likely to matriculate to universities because they have more obstacles to overcome.
