高學費、高補助：大學教育消弭經濟隔離現象的作為與省思

Abstract

美國公私立大學為反映教育成本及提升品質，逐年調漲學費，影響經濟弱勢家庭子女就學機會。為消弭此一不公平的現象，聯邦與州政府以及大學紛紛提出「高學費、高補助」的就學計畫，經本文探討結果有四點發現：一、「高學費、高補助」助長了大學提高學費的藉口，讓中、高家庭都感到負擔沉重；二、「高學費、高補助」雖然對部分家庭子女有利，但並沒有完全消弭經濟隔離現象，政府還需要考慮其他的措施加以彌補；三、「高學費、高補助」受惠者以中等及中等以上家庭子女居多；四、「高學費、高補助」有變成「高學費、高貸款」的傾向。藉由本文之觀點，亦對我國高等教育學費政策加以探討，我國公私立大學雖無高學費問題，但在公平、效率及補助對象上應再加以落實與改進。

American universities， public and private， have raised their tuition fees to reflect educational costs and improve quality; however， this has affected the educational opportunity for students from disadvantaged families. In order to put an end to such inequity， federal and state governments as well as higher education institutions have adopted a high tuition-high aid policy. Yet this study finds that: 1) a high tuition-high aid policy has provided higher education institutions an excuse to raise their tuition fees; 2) although a high tuition-high aid policy has benefited some students， governments need to consider other options to terminate the economic segregation that still exists; 3) the beneficiaries of the high tuition-high aid policy are mostly from middle class or above families; 4) there is a tendency for high tuition-high aid policy to turn into high tuitionhigh loan. By also exploring the higher education policy in Taiwan， this paper finds that although Taiwan does not have a high tuition problem， improvements need to be made regarding the equity， efficiency and distribution of financing aid.