The Equity Implications of User Fees in Philippine Higher Education: an Exploratory Analysis

Up until recently, publicly-provided education was offered to users at highly subsidized, and sometimes even zero, prices. That government should intervene in the education pricing mechanism was largely taken for granted by policymakers, at least up until the late 1970s. Beginning in the 1980s, a confluence of factors led to a re-examination of this policy, particularly· in the case of developing countries. Rapid population growth, tight fiscal budgets, and slow growth prospects prevented public subsidies to education from growing fast enough to meet the ever-increasing demand for school places. Not only were resources insufficient; in many instances, they were alsomisallocated, tending to benefit the rich more than the poor. These, together with the growing influence of neoliberal approaches to development, set the stage for sector-wide reforms aimed at rationalizing price subsidies in education.