Education, and particularly higher education, is extremely relevant as countries transition into post-industrial knowledge economies. But countries’ higher education systems differ tremendously across countries. This paper provides an overview on higher education funding in the advanced democracies and explains the prevailing country differences by analyzing the politics of higher education. First, the paper develops a typology of higher education funding and offers a systematic descriptive overview on higher education funding in the advanced OECD economies, paying particular attention to Europe. Comparative data is analyzed on public higher education expenditure, private expenditure, different kinds of tuition fees, different kinds of financial student aid, and research and development spending. The paper’s second part discusses the existing literature on explanations for differences in higher education funding. It points at three sets of determinants: socio-economic structural factors, political and economic actors, and political institutions. The literature review also identifies several important gaps in the literature. The paper’s third part addresses one of these gaps by shedding new empirical light on public opinion towards higher education tuition fees in Europe. Using novel public opinion data, it analyzes attitudes towards different kinds of tuition fees, offering also explanations for citizens’ preferences. The final section concludes and points at avenues for future research.
