Income-contingent Financing of Student Charges for Higher Education: Assessing the Australian Innovation

Abstract

In Australia in 1989, for the first time in the world, a broadly-based, income-contingent loan policy for the repayment of higher education charges was adopted. In this article Bruce Chapman and Chris Ryan argue that compared to all possible alternatives, income contingent loans are preferable for both economic and social reasons, so long as the administrative context allows efficient collection of the debt.