ABSTRACT
Part I examines the basis for, and experience with, income contingent loans (ICLs) for the financing of higher education, recognising that over the last 15 years or so there has been a quiet revolution in approaches internationally to this issue. The most important change has occurred in those countries in which higher education systems had previously been funded almost entirely through taxpayer transfers, that is, without contributions from the direct beneficiaries, graduates. It is now the case that many countries, for the first time for many years, have introduced, or are about to introduce, tuition charges. Examples include New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom.
