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Sweden
I. A Brief Description of the Swedish Higher Education System
The higher education system in Sweden is very much a function of several national characteristics including its small population, ethic, religious, and cultural homogeneity, political stability and an ideology of democratic socialism, preference for social benefits for all, coupled with progresses income taxes, strong central government and relative affluence (Johnstone, 1986:87). These characteristics have meant that social equality in higher education is an important objective in many policies and reforms over the past fifty years that are aimed not just at eliminating financial barriers to education, but also at actively drawing students from underprivileged social backgrounds into the higher education system (Eurydice, 1999:169).
The most important of these were the financial reforms of the mid-1960s and the reforms enacted in the Higher Education Act of 1977. The former included the creation of a new support system made up of grants and loans that enshrined the principle of student financial independence from their parents. The latter reforms included the establishment of a unitary system of higher education that used, to some extent, age and work experience as a partial alternative to academic credentials for access to higher education, the establishment of six higher education regions, each with a university, to decentralize planning and decision making and the establishment of new governing units with members from the faculty, the student body, nonfaculty employees and the public (Johnstone, 1986:89).
In Sweden all higher education is undertaken at universities and university colleges with no distinction made between university and non-university education (Ortelius, 2002, website). Ninety percent of undergraduate studies, post-graduate studies and research are carried out at the 13 state universities and the 23 university colleges. Alongside the public universities and colleges there are a small number of privately run higher educational institutions that receive government grant funds. These include the Stockholm School of Economics, Chalmers University of Technology and the University College of Jonkoping. In addition to these, there are some ten smaller private institutions with the right to award certain degrees of higher education (Embassy of Sweden website).
Distance learning, mainly in the form of correspondence courses, has a long tradition in Sweden. Today most universities and other institutions of higher education offer varying amounts and types of studies on this basis. The courses are planned in such a way as to enable people to pursue their studies unencumbered by place of residence, work or family status (Embassy of Sweden website).
Admission to higher education is guided by numerous clauses wherein the government fixes quotas for each discipline. However, the new Higher Education Act and Higher Education Ordinance of 1993 aim to reduce the overall influence of the central government. Responsibility for the admission and selection of students rests with the universities and university colleges themselves. For the selection of students, one or more of the following criteria are applicable: school marks, results on the university aptitude test (which is common for all institutions of higher education) or a special admissions procedure (e.g. interviews), previous education which may be relevant to the higher education applied for, and work experience.
From the late 1970s to the late 1980s the Swedish higher education system had a nearly constant capacity with a total number of entrants of between 40,000 and 45,000 per year. Thereafter, there has been a steady expansion of the total number of places for undergraduate studies. By the 1997/98 academic year, there were about 65,000 university entrants annually with a total number of 305,600 students in undergraduate education (Embassy of Sweden website).
In the 1990’s roughly 30 percent of young people went on to higher education within three years after completion of their upper secondary schooling. Apart from students coming straight from school, the post-secondary student population includes a relatively large proportion of mature students, i.e. students who have previously acquired various amounts of work experience (Embassy of Sweden website). In the 1996-97 academic year, nearly half of the students in undergraduate education were younger than 25. Nearly a fifth of the students were 35 years old or older (Ortelius website).
II. Estimated Expenses of Higher Education in SwedenHigher education in Sweden is free of charge for all students except for a small fee paid to the student union for social services (ESTIA website). A fundamental principle in Swedish higher education is that all students who need help to finance their studies should receive assistance from the central government for this purpose. This aid takes the form of student grants and loans. Study assistance consists of a non-repayable grant plus a larger repayable loan. The non-repayable grant is about 30% of the total amount and, like the loan portion, is inflation-indexed. Repayment of the study loan begins not less than six month after the final receipt of study assistance. Installments are income related, the rule being repayment at a rate of 4% of annual income. The government fixes the rate of interest annually. Interest payments are not tax-deductible. Student loans are written off at death and at age 65 (Embassy of Sweden website). Table 1 shows the student assistance available to full time students in the 2002 Spring term.
Table 1 – Amount Payable to Full-time Students, Spring Term, 2002 [1]
| Amount per week (kr) |
Amount per 4 week period |
|
| General grant | 572 (US$45.87) |
2,288 ($183) |
| Loan |
1,091 ($87) |
4,364 ($350) |
| Total |
1,663 ($133) |
6,652 ($533) |
| Higher grant |
1,364 ($109) |
5,456 ($437) |
| Loan |
299 ($24) |
1,196 ($96) |
| Total |
1,663 ($133) |
6,652 ($533) |
| Supplementary loan |
375 ($30) |
1,500 ($120) |
Source: CSN (2002) Information on Swedish Study Assistance, CSN Faktablad 2002.
To receive such assistance, a student must fulfil certain requirements. For example, the grants and loans may be reduced if the student’s own income becomes too substantial. However, no account is taken of the economic situation of the student’s parents or spouse. A student is entitled to the higher grant if he/she is 25 or older and attending a municipally run course of adult education studies. The supplementary loan is available to students who are studying full time and have received a certain income during the twelve months that preceded the initiation of their studies. A person aged 50 or over cannot, as a rule, receive study assistance and entitlement to loans is reduced for students over 41 years of age. In general a person may receive study assistance for a maximum of twelve terms (six years); exceptions can be made, for instance, in the case of graduate students.
Students start repaying their loans six months after they last received any form of study assistance. The loan is a kind of annuity loan that is repaid in yearly installments for a period of 25 years or until the age of 60. The annual amount of the payment normally increases every year by 2 percent. The interest is compounded starting from the first payment.
Sweden
Higher Education Expenses Borne by Parents and
Students
First Degree, Academic Year 1999-00 (10 months)
[National
currency SEK converted to $US
by 1999 purchasing power parity of $1 = Sek. 9.78]
| Public & Private |
||||
| Low |
Moderate |
High |
||
| Special “One-Time” or “Up Front” Fees |
||||
|
|
Tuition |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
| Other Fees** |
Sek.600 |
Sek.800 |
Sek.800 |
|
| Books & Other Educational Expenses |
Sek.3,500 |
Sek.5,500 |
Sek.5,500 |
|
| Subtotal
Expenses |
Sek.5,100 |
Sek.7,300 |
Sek.7,300 |
|
|
|
Lodging |
0 |
SEK 23,000 |
SEK 40,000 |
| Food |
SEK 20,000 |
SEK 25,000 |
SEK 50,000 |
|
| Transportation |
SEK 2,500 |
SEK 2,500 |
SEK 3,500 |
|
| Other Personal Expenses |
SEK 6,500 |
SEK 8,000 |
SEK 12,000 |
|
| Subtotal Expenses of Student Living |
Sek.29,000 |
Sek.58,500 |
Sek.103,500 |
|
| |
Total Cost to Parent & Student | Sek.34,100 |
Sek.65,800 |
Sek.110,800 |
Low: living at home with parents, low-cost programs.
Moderate:
living in dormitory, moderate or high-cost programs.
High: living as “independent adult.” (Married and/or
single parent with children).
**Student Union Fee. Membership in a student union is compulsory, and the student pays around SEK 300-400 to the local student union each term. (6, p.2)
* OECD (January, 2001). Purchasing Power Parities. Main Economic Indicators. http://www.oecd.org/std/ppp1.pdf
Prepared by P. Marcucci, Handan Maziouglu, and Jie Wang (7/28/03)
REFERENCES:
CSN (2002) Information on Swedish Study Assistance, CSN Faktablad 2002, Sundsvall.
Eurydice (1999) Key Topics in Education, Financial Support for Students in Higher Education in Europe, Trends and Debates, Volume I, European Commission, Luxembourg.
Johnstone, D. Bruce (1986) Sharing the Costs of Higher Education, Student Financial Assistance in the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Sweden, and the United States, the College Entrance Examination Board, New York.
Websites
Embassy of Sweden, United Kingdom, web-site. Swedish Facts: Higher Education in Sweden. http://www.swednet.org.uk/embassy/emb0312.html
ESTIA in Sweden – Education/Higher Education. http://www.estia.edu,goteborg.se/sv-estia/edu
Hogskoleverket, National Agency for
Higher Education web-site.
http://www.hsv.se/english/students/entrance.html
Sweden: Profile of the Higher Education System. http://ortelius.unifi.it/ortelius/NHES/Swindex.html
Swedish Higher Education. http://helios.hsv.se/english/higher/Swehigheredu.html
[1] Converted to US dollars by 2001 PPP of $1 = 12.47 Swedish Krona.
