Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > FY2003 White Paper on Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology >Part1 Chapter4 Section5.3

The majority of institutions of higher education are state institutions, and students enrolled in private institutions account for only 2 to 3 percent of all students enrolled in institutions. Very few of these institutions of higher education have their own financial resources besides income from hospitals, and the structure of higher education costs is such that 90 percent is shouldered by states and 10 percent by the federal government.

The increase of higher education costs alongside the increase of students has been putting pressure on the finances of states, which shoulder most of the expenses. More and more state institutions of higher education, which had been free of charge, are starting to introduce tuition fees for a portion of students. Baden-Wu�rttemberg began collecting tuition fees (of approximately 120,000 yen per year) from long-term students who are enrolled at its institution for at least four semesters longer than the standard period of study. (The usual period of study is nine semesters, four and a half years.) Following this, seven of the 16 state institutions as of September 2003 began or decided to begin collecting tuition fees from long-term students.

In addition, each state is looking into the effective allocation of state budgets. Some states are allocating their budgets based on the performance records noted above, while others are experimenting with overall budgets in which expense items are not specified.