What Are the Different Sources of Higher Education Funding?

Education finance refers to the state's management of education funds and other related education resources, including the state's supervision of the financing, allocation, and use of other education resources.

Education finance

As one of the important contents of government's public financial expenditure, the classification of education finance is closely related to the classification of fiscal revenue and expenditure. However, education expenditure has its own characteristics, and it is inseparable from the government education system and government financial management system, as well as the specific conditions and historical backgrounds of countries. Therefore, its classification angle and classification method are different.

(1) Classification by education system (or education level)

Purpose, countries around the world generally implement a preschool (infant), elementary, secondary, higher and other forms of education system. According to this system, education finance can be divided into: preschool (infant) education finance, primary education finance, medium Education finance, higher education finance, and other forms of education finance. Preschool (early childhood) education finance refers to government education funding for preschool children. It includes expenditures for the construction of venues and facilities for early childhood education, and management and administrative expenses for early childhood education.

Elementary education finance refers to the government's investment in education at the elementary school level. It includes the expenditures for the construction of facilities in schools, the salaries of teachers' salaries, and the teaching management and administrative expenses. Because education at this stage is compulsory. Its funding source is basically

As the scale of higher education continues to expand, the number of enrolled students has increased dramatically, and the demand for education funding has also increased. In order to guarantee the equality of educational opportunities and the quality of educational output, and to promote the further development of the popularization of higher education, education funding will inevitably increase accordingly. But at the same time, we should also see that compared to the demand for education, educational resources are always scarce, which will lead to such a contradiction. On the one hand, education funding is always scarce; on the other hand, the quality of education cannot be reduced. To solve this problem, we must strengthen the financing and management of education funds, increase revenue and reduce expenditures, and improve their utilization efficiency. And this is exactly the intended meaning of higher education finance. Therefore, higher education finance is of great significance and role to the development of higher education.

• (I) Provide material guarantee for the development of higher education

From an economic point of view, although education has very obvious positive externalities, in particular, it has a huge promotion effect on economic growth, but it is still a huge one that cannot fully achieve effective cost compensation and profit through market mechanisms. Expendable engineering. Therefore, even in western countries that advocate market mechanisms, the education sector is often regarded as the public or quasi-public sector. American economist Renolds (L.G. Renolds) believes that education is "quasi-public goods", the market does not work here, "society may decide to grant subsidies or even free distribution." The failure of the market in the education sector is due to the high external economic benefits of education, that is, the huge social benefits brought by education are far higher than the private benefits. Under the regulation of the market mechanism, private enterprises usually Ignoring long-term social interests will cause great losses to society. In this way, education can generally only be regarded as the common needs and public interests pursued by society or the country, and can be met by the government representing the public interest through administrative, economic, and legal means. Judging from the development trend of education in various countries in the contemporary world, the government is playing an increasingly important role. No matter whether it is a developed or developing country, nothing can be done. As far as our country is concerned, government investment at all levels through education administration plays a decisive role in the development of education. Education finance is an important content and means of education administration. Its fundamental task is to provide material security for the nation's national education under the will of the country. To this end, it is necessary to study the reasonable proportion of education expenditure in the gross national product, national income, national fiscal revenue, and expenditures, to provide a basis for decision-making by relevant government departments at all levels, and to obtain adequate education funding for the development of education. Secondly, to play the role of education finance in raising education funds, the resources that can be used for education funds scattered in the hands of various regions, departments, enterprises and individuals should be raised through legislative forms or other regulations and methods to form education. Funding to make up for the lack of government investment in education.

• (2) Reasonably allocate resources for higher education resources

Reasonable allocation refers to the human resources, material resources, financial resources of the society, and the funds and other resources reflected in their values, which have been optimized and efficiently used. The contradiction between the limited scarcity of resources and the obscurity of society's needs cannot be reconciled. Therefore, the rational and effective allocation of resources to their maximum functions is the basic requirement of finance. Compared with the demand for education, educational resources are always limited, which makes it even more necessary to rationally allocate educational resources. In brief, the reasonable allocation of educational resources is the rational distribution of limited educational resources to various departments and institutions of the education system, so as to achieve the maximum output of educational products and services with minimal investment in education. The rational allocation of resources by education finance is mainly reflected in two aspects: first, effective resource allocation between various levels and schools; and second, how to make reasonable resource allocation between the development of education and the basic construction of education. In order to promote the coordinated development of higher education and thereby promote regional economic and social development, we must give play to the macro-control role of higher education finance. When allocating educational resources, we must proceed from our national conditions and from the actual situation of national education finance. Consider the type of education, the level of the school, the focus and the general, and take care of the characteristics of the area-the situation of the rich and old, young, border, and poor areas, and allocate education funds in accordance with the principles of fairness, rationality, and effectiveness.

• (3) Scientifically and reasonably regulating education funding

Education finance is helpful for the rational allocation of educational resources, but the scientific allocation of educational resources does not happen overnight. In the process of educational development, the factors restricting the development of education are complex and diverse. There are many variables in these factors. They are grouped together and constantly reorganized, which constitutes the ever-changing objective reality in the process of educational development. It is this objective and ever-changing reality that requires education finance to proceed from the actual situation and make reasonable decisions from time to time, so that the allocation of educational resources is more targeted and efficient. Under the planned economic system in China, since the plan is the only mechanism to regulate economic operation and even the entire social life, education also runs around the state's mandated educational development plan. The unity of the plan cannot adapt to the differences in the development of education, resulting in the difficulty of effectively improving the overall effectiveness of education in the long term. With the reform of China's economic system, the entire society has undergone corresponding transformation. Higher education, as an important part of economic and social development, is bound to be bound to a certain extent by the rules of the market economy. However, the inherent characteristics of the education system make it difficult to adjust supply and demand by the market mechanism. Therefore, based on the characteristics of higher education, organically coordinating the plan with the market, the "visible hand" and the "invisible hand", has become the core issue of whether China's higher education financial regulation role can be brought into full play in the new situation. The criterion for judging is to see if it can effectively promote the coordinated development of education. In short, in order to make the allocation of education funding closer to reality, more reasonable, more coordinated, and the balance between total education supply and demand, we must maximize the role of education finance in regulating the supply.

• (4) Implementing effective supervision of the use of education funds

Education is a large-scale systematic project. It is necessary to strengthen macro-planning for education, strengthen investment in education, and comprehensively reflect and properly resolve contradictions and problems in the development of education. All these rely on the strong supervision and management of the development of education by governments at all levels of the country and their education administrative departments. Therefore, strengthening the management and supervision of education is an objective requirement for the development of education and education management itself. Only by maintaining a normal education operation order and establishing a good education development environment, can the education cause follow the overall coordinated development of people. Education finance, as a kind of government's economic behavior, supervises the economic behavior of educational institutions and the use of funds to make the economic behavior of various sectors and institutions of the education system on the track permitted by the legal system and policies; The handling and sanctions of violations of fiscal discipline by institutions and individuals have led to the correct orientation of the education system, which has a huge incentive or restraint role, and urged the education departments, institutions and individuals to work hard to improve their work, thereby continuously improving the use of education funds. The above four aspects of higher education finance are a combination of independence and interdependence. If any one of them fails to play effectively, it will affect the other aspects, which will have a negative impact on the operation of the entire education system. Therefore, when making educational financial decisions, we must fully consider the state and local financial realities, and make good use of educational financial means such as education budgets, education accounts, and education audits to ensure the balanced and coordinated development of education.

Generally speaking, education finance has three basic functions:

First, raise education funds and other educational resources to ensure the needs of national education development.

The main financing methods are: First, formulate relevant laws and regulations, determine the funding channels and corresponding proportions of education funds, and ensure the legitimacy and effectiveness of education fundraising; second, ensure the gradual progress of education expenditure in the public financial expenditures of governments at all levels. Growth; the third is to absorb various private funds or resources to invest in education through various administrative or economic means.

Second, allocate education funds and allocate educational resources.

The basic basis for allocating educational funds and allocating educational resources is the relevant national education laws, regulations and policies, the social demand for various types of education at all levels, and the funding requirements of various types of education at all levels. The development of education depends, on the one hand, on the amount of education funds and other educational resources, and on the other hand, whether the allocation of education funds is reasonable, and whether the allocation of educational resources is scientific.

Third, monitor the legal use of education funds and the effective use of other educational resources.

In this regard, the role of education finance is to monitor legally the financial activities of educational institutions at all levels and to prevent the illegal use of education funds, to prevent extravagance and waste, to ensure that education costs are properly paid, and that education resources are used as they should be. benefit.

Whether the education financial system is sound, authoritative and effective will not only have a significant impact on the collection, distribution and use of education funds and related resources, but also affect the smooth and healthy development of education.

(1) Educational budget system

The education budget refers to the annual fiscal revenue and expenditure plan formulated by governments at all levels and relevant functional departments, including education budget revenue and education budget expenditure.

The education budget system is the principles, procedures, rules, and requirements that must be followed in formulating an education budget, that is, the guidelines and norms for preparing an education budget.

The education budget system has the following characteristics: (1) normative, which means that the system, procedures and requirements for preparing the education budget are clearly stipulated, and there are strict working procedures for the preparation, review, review and approval of the draft budget; (2) seriousness, Means that all links in the process of preparing the education budget have clear responsibilities; (3) Authority, which means that once approved, the education budget plan has legal effect and must be implemented according to law.

China's education budget uses a system of division of responsibilities between the central and local governments.

(B) Educational Accounts System

Educational accounts, also known as education finance accounts, refer to the annual accounting reports prepared by governments at all levels for the implementation of education budgets.

Educational accounts include two parts: the financial budget of the education year and the analysis of the final accounts. The income and expenditure of education funds should correspond to the budget items. The final account analysis is to explain the use of education funds according to certain indicators.

Educational final account system refers to the standards and norms for compiling educational final accounts, including related principles, rules, procedures and requirements. Its functions are: first, to ensure the successful completion of the education final accounts as scheduled; second, to standardize various education final account activities so that they can be followed; third, to prevent various violations in the process of education final accounts and improve the credibility of education final accounts degree.

China's education accounts adopt a system of graded education finance accounts. In addition to the central education finance accounts, local governments at all levels also carry out corresponding education finance accounts at all levels.

(3) Education audit system

Education audit refers to the assessment, evaluation and supervision of the education financial department's education financial revenues and expenditures and other related economic activities by the audit departments of governments at all levels and audit institutions of education departments. Its main contents are: education budget audit, education finance law discipline audit, education economic audit and education financial book audit.

The education audit system refers to various standards and norms to ensure that education audit activities can be carried out. The education audit system not only has clear regulations on audit institutions, auditors, audit functions, scope of authority, work requirements, etc., but also the principles, basis, system, procedures, methods of audit work, and the treatment of audit results. Specific regulations.

China implements a dual education audit system. First, the audit departments of governments at all levels audit and supervise the financial revenues and expenditures of educational institutions and the financial revenues and expenditures of educational institutions in accordance with relevant national laws and regulations. Secondly, the audit institutions within the education system have the power to exercise education audit supervision in accordance with the law.

(4) Education taxation system

Education tax refers to the tax that the state collects from national income for the development of education. It is a special state tax. The education surcharge is not a strict education tax clearly stipulated by the national tax law, but it actually has the nature of education tax. The collection of education surcharges has laid the foundation for the state to levy education taxes.

The education tax system refers to various standards and norms concerning the collection of education taxes. In some countries where education taxes are collected directly, the education tax system is generally more complete. At present, China has not established an education tax system.