Expansion and Contraction in Student Funding Policies: a Cross-Country Study of Higher Education Cost-Sharing Reforms in Finland and New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis examines tertiary education student funding policies in regard to student-state cost-sharing in Finland and New Zealand. The main purpose of the study is to advance our understanding of the causes explaining the stability and change in the generosity of these programs. This thesis draws on the welfare state and higher education cost-sharing literatures which present retrenchment and increased private responsibility as the paramount trends in mature welfare state programs, and which emphasise partisan and economic pressures as the main causes for changes in levels of generosity. By reviewing legislative changes in student funding programs between 1989 and 2013 and comparing how the observed annual cost-sharing direction coincides with the partisan incumbency and economic conditions in the case countries, the first part of this thesis explores if these claims holds true. The second part looks more deeply into the determinants of change and stability by analysing the policy processes in thirteen episodes where generosity in the student funding programs has been affected and in four episodes illustrating stability. The chosen theoretical framework builds on the multiple streams framework and institutional-path dependence perspective, suggesting the influence of additional variables like policy entrepreneurs and legislative barriers. This investigation is undertaken by employing a qualitative content analysis of documentary material. The analysis provides a detailed historical policy trajectory of student funding generosity changes in Finland and New Zealand. The empirical findings dispute the contraction hypothesis and suggest that countries have tended to follow certain national paths when reforming their student funding policies. The findings also demonstrate how the partisan incumbency and economic condition variables are only able to shed partial light on the policy episodes. It is argued that the multiple streams framework, combined with the institutional lens (in episodes of stability), can significantly advance our understanding of generosity changes. In particular the role played by policy entrepreneurs, issue salience and election cycles were found to be salient determinants. This thesis fills a gap in the literature by producing a theoretically informed analysis of cost-sharing reforms over time and the determinants advancing or impeding changes in levels of generosity.