ABSTRACT
Education is now recognized to be an investment in human capital that generates benefits for the individual, in the form of better employment prospects and higher lifetime earnings, and for society at large, by increasing the skills and productivity of the labour force. For if post-school education is completely subsidized with no fees and with grants to cover living expenses then students will be enabled to reap private benefits at public expense. In fact, many of the arguments are equally applicable to all forms of post-school education. People start, therefore, by looking at the question of who benefits from investment in vocational training. Let them turn, therefore, to general post-school education, where there have been several attempts to measure social and private costs and benefits. The chapter ends by suggesting that the present system of finance is unsatisfactory on efficiency and equity grounds.
