Polityka wobec finansowania edukacji wyższej w Polsce

Abstrakt

Policy towards the higher education financing in Poland

The article provides an analysis of the issue related to public and private financing of higher education in Poland. The arguments for the systems of public, private, or mixed financing of studies are compared here with the European models of financing higher education. This paper analyses the Polish system of financing education in the context of both legal bases and the reality in the operation of higher education institutions. The analysis indicates that the system of financing public higher education is in fact dual, i.e. it consists of paid studies and tuition free studies. The fact that almost half of the students pay for their education triggers a question whether education is really free and whether everyone has equal access to education. The analysis of the costs incurred by the students and the possibilities to gain financial support indicates a significant percentage of private expenditures in financing higher education.
The mixed system of financing higher education in Poland and the existence of public and non-public higher schools prove that the entities providing higher education services as well as the flows of funds for higher schools are diversified. Thus, the citizens can use public education services but often they are obliged to pay for the service.