Cost-Sharing Higher Education

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Governments all over the world have acknowledged the role of tertiary education in the acquisition of critical skills such as teaching, engineering, medicine, and accounting among others needed for socio-economic development. There is also a significant increase in demand for higher education worldwide. However, a major challenge faced by most governments throughout the world, in both industrialized and developing countries is the response to the twin pressures of rising demand for admission to higher education on one hand and a heavy constrained on public budget to support the same on the other (Bangu, 2012).

For many countries; both rich and poor, a large proportion of the cost of higher education

Secondly, the private rate of returns to higher education in relation to the individual is high and so people who benefit should be made to contribute towards higher education. Thirdly, cost-sharing promotes and ensures the efficiency and accountability of institutions to students and parents. Lastly, there is sheer need for additional and consistent revenue flow towards higher education in the face of increased enrollment pressure in both the public and private demand for higher education, the fast rise per-student cost in higher education, the shortage of available public (tax-based) revenue, and competition from other compelling public needs such as secondary education, public health, water and housing, among

Aside concerns being raised, matters surrounding the financing of higher education have been a politically sensitive issue in Ghana, especially at the universities, polytechnics and lately colleges of education where students are well-organized and are accustomed to free tuition. In late 1999, students briefly went on strike to protest rising "user fees" Charges University administrations levied on students for accommodations, meals and use of laboratories and libraries.

Cost sharing was initially introduced in 1997 through the adoption of the Akosombo Accord that divided responsibility for university funding between the government (responsible for 70 percent of total funding) and three sources (30 percent) including university internal revenue-generation, private donations and students tuition fees. Students’ academic and residential facility user fees were introduced in 1998. Students who live in university housing pay both, while students off campus pay the non-residential academic facility user fee and a small non-residential facility user