Educational Finance in Thailand - UNESCO Bangkok

Final Report, Volume II/3 Anthony. Cresswell: Educational Finance UNESCO-PROAP TA 2996-THA
Education Management and Finance Study July 1999
Figure 14 - Private higher education expenditure by type of institution
Private Expenditure on Higher Education by Type of Institution
1997 Survey
90,000
80,000
Average Expenditure
70,000
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
Tot. Exp.
Tuit. & Fees
10,000
0
MUA Rajabhat RIT Private Total
Institution
b. The proportion of tuition to total private expenditure for higher education is
shown in Figure 14 above. The tuition proportion is generally higher than that for
basic education expenditure, which would be expected. It is also noteworthy that
the amount of non-tuition expenses increases with the tuition level. To the degree
that these expenses are more discretionary than tuition, this pattern suggests that
those who can afford higher tuition have preferences for greater outlays on other
expenses as well. This has similar equity implications as the related observation
for basic education above.
2.3.2. Private Expenditure and Equity
a. The high level of private expenditure on education has important implication
for the pursuit of the Government’s equity goals. Some implications arise out of
the equity impacts of current funding and expenditure patterns. In general these
patterns indicate that the private burden of educational financing falls more
heavily on lower income households and lower income areas of the country.
Therefore it appears that the current system has elements that could be improved
in terms of equity of the financial burden. Increasing the role of private
expenditure in the overall financing of education should therefore be done in ways
that reduce or eliminate as many as possible of the inequitable elements that
appear in the current system.
b. The private costs of education occupy a much larger proportion of household
income for the poor households than for the richer ones, as would be expected. A
comparison of expenses to income for the basic education survey is shown in
Figure 15 below. For the three highest income groups the expenditure for basic
education is approximately 10 per cent or less of total family income, even for
private schooling. For the lowest income groups the proportion rises to as much as
70 per cent for the total expense of private schooling. As would be expected, the
burden of expenses for private education exceed that for public by substantial
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