The University Tuition Policy In The View Of Ethic

Efficiency and equity are the two most basic values in our social country, and simultaneously it is also a dilemma for the public policies in most of the countries. After 1970's, the development of education democracy requires the country extend higher education's scale to meet the need for more and more people. Under this background, education marketing occupied the dominant position gradually, and American public universities and colleges started to implement the policy of sharing the cost. Our country began to reform university tuition policy in the middle of 1980s. Some students with low score had to pay more in the public universities and colleges since 1989, while the students with high score pay less. And the standard of tuition turned to the same criterion in 1997. The tuition standard has been increasing since 1997.This paper based on Johnstone's sharing the costs of higher education and John Rawls'efficiency and equity theory. It introduced the tuition policy in American public universities and colleges, and then analyzed its advanced experience. The"Higher-tuition, higher-aid"policy helped public universities and colleges to collect more funds and expand successfully, and improved educational efficiency greatly. At the same time American public university tuition policy insists distinction principle, established perfect students aid system, thus it ensured the low-income students'educational opportunities basically and improved educational equity.The practice of public university tuition policy in our country had also collected more funds for higher education, and greatly expanded the higher education scale, thus powerfully impelled our country's higher education transfer from"elite education"to"popular education". Simultaneously the universities interior resources disposition efficiency had been promoted. But facing duality in our economy, imbalance of social reality and underdeveloped mode of higher education, the low-income people are given great press in their notion and economic ability. John Rawls'efficiency and equity theory has much enlightenment for the transition of higher education in our country. For educational efficiency and equity, we should insist"distinction principle", decide the tuition standard in a scientific and reasonable way, and improve the students'aid system, so we can develop higher education harmoniously.