Financiacion de la educacion superior en Espana: Sus Fimplicaciones en el terreno de la equidad [Book review]

Abstract

A substantial part of the current debate about the relationships between government and higher education is concerned with the impact of the funding of higher education on the distribution of income. This book describes the regressive effect of the Spanish method of funding, although the modifications introduced during the last decade have slightly reduced the regressivity of the system. The study by Calero begins with a theoretical and methodological outline of the main components of a thorough analysis.on the redistributive effects of the funding of public higher education (Chapters 1 and 2). In these chapters, the author examines the specific nature of the analyses carried out from the area of the Economics of Education and the possible options between which the researcher can choose in undertaking a research of this type. Among these options, Calero examines the way families are classified, the treatment of taxes, the intergenerational transfer problem or the use of age group limitations with the purpose of identifying the potential users of higher education. The third chapter introduces the main traits and results of the analysis. Here, Calero confirms the regressivity of the current method of funding public higher education, showing that, during the past decade, there has been a slight decrease in the regressive effect. According to the author, the regressivity arises mainly from the lack of a private higher education sector in Spain, from the difficulties of access to higher education of lower income groups and from the limited effects of the grant system. In the nineties, however, there has been an improvement in the access of lower income families, but it has been accompanied by a greater participation of middle classes in public educational services. The author, then, demonstrates that his initial hypothesis, that there has been a growing use by the middle classes of educational services, has been supported by the evidence, and that the grant system has only slightly alleviated the regressivity of the method of funding. In that sense, the fact that the cover rate of the grant system is between 22% and 42% for the lower income groups and around 16% for the highest income classes suggests that there are problems with the design and application of the system, which interfere with the equity objective of making the distribution of income more equal.