Over the years, there has been a tremendous increase in enrollment in higher education as well as the cost of attendance. This article comparatively analyzes the higher education finance between the United States of America (U.S.A.) and Ghana, taking into consideration the goals of higher education, enrollment and expenditure, and the various…

This paper presents an exploratory analysis of the funding mechanisms for higher education across sixteen countries which builds upon existing work on educational institutions, educational outcomes, and welfare regimes. We focus upon the current financing dilemma within the Irish higher education system, seeking potential solutions within an…

Nearly 43 million college student borrowers across the United States owe more than $1.56 trillion in outstanding federal student loans. The number of student borrowers in the country has increased by 1.3 million, or 3.1 percent, over the past five years, while the amount of outstanding student debt in the country has increased by a whopping $…

The landscape of financing early childhood education in the U.S. is complex. Programs run the gamut from tuition-supported private centers to public programs supported by federal, state, or local funds. Different funding streams are poorly coordinated. The federal government funds several major targeted programs that are available only to specific…

The care and education of young children in the United States is supported by nearly $40 billion yearly from a variety of sources at the federal, state, and local levels. Even so, about a quarter of 4-year-olds and half of 3-year-olds do not attend preschool, and many of those who do attend receive only poor quality services. Some programs are of…

The national commitment to increasing postsecondary educational attainment, combined with growing economic anxiety, has made community colleges the focus of many federal and state policy initiatives. There is good reason for this: by virtue of their nature and reach, community colleges--public institutions of higher education that predominantly…

This First Look publication provides price estimates for attending postsecondary education institutions using data from the 2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12), the most comprehensive, nationally representative survey of student financing of postsecondary education in the United States. The survey includes about 95,000…

As the last Soviet republic to become an independent nation, Kazakhstan has worked diligently to transform and develop its educational system including systemic changes related to decentralization, financing changes, and the shift to a credit system. A professional health sciences education workshop delivered in Kazakhstan exemplifies progressive…

While higher education is regarded a high priority for economic development in many countries, public budgets often fall short to support desired levels of expansion in higher education. This leads to cost-sharing: students and their families are required to contribute more to the costs of higher education. This paper explores worldwide trends to…

This paper uses a multicountry perspective spanning four countries--the United States, Mongolia, South Africa, and Ukraine--to highlight a number of strategies and challenges related to the creation and implementation of suitable higher education finance polices. It draws attention to the financial imperatives that affect higher education in the…

This chapter examines how the previously distinct worlds of early childhood education (ECE) and K-12 public school education are being drawn together through the recent and rapid advances of prekindergarten programming in the United States. Tensions around teaching philosophies, teacher qualifications, and financing are presented to illustrate the…

In world regions receiving direct foreign aid, beneficiaries of aid often lack the education required to remove themselves from poverty. Micro-lending refers to the initiation of small loans to the neediest of borrowers who are unable to secure traditional financing from financial intermediaries. In order for micro-lending to thrive as a viable…

The data presented in this combined report--"Rankings & Estimates"--provide facts about the extent to which local, state, and national governments commit resources to public education. As one might expect in a nation as diverse as the United States--with respect to economics, geography, and politics--the level of commitment to…

The "Great Recession" of 2008-2010 has brought a truly unprecedented level of financial chaos to U.S. higher education, exposing chronic fault lines in the system of financing that threaten national capacity to meet the future need for college graduates. This article examines the nature of the higher education "cost disease,"…

This is the First Look at the results of the 2007-08 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:08), the most comprehensive, nationally representative survey of student financing of postsecondary education in the United States. About 114,000 undergraduate students and 14,000 graduate and first professional students were randomly selected from…