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CHAPTER ALLOCATION AND SOURCES OFEDU C ATIONAL EXPENDITURES

Educational expenditures borne by parents or students include two categories of expenditures. The first is expenditures paid or donated by parents or students to schools and expended through school revenue-accounts such as tuition fees, school meal fees, class fees, PTA membership fees, general donations, etc.; the second category is expenditures made directly by parents or students for school education, such as, expenses for purchasing text-books or school supplies, expenses for commuting to schools, etc.

Figure 45 shows the 1968 educational expenditures of parents of pupils in local public elementary, lower secondary and upper secondary schools, respectively.

Figure 45. Educational Expenditures Paid by Parents of Pupils in Local Public Elementary, Lower Secondary and Upper Secondary Schools, 1968

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Note: Actual numbers are given in Basic Table 86. Basic Table 86

Table 90 shows the per capita increase in the annual educational expenditures of parents of pupils in local public elementary, lower secondary and upper secondary schools, using 1954 -1956 expenditures as the base (amounts are converted into the 1968 value of yen). The indices in elementary and lower secondary schools have increased by one hundred per cent and those in upper secondary school, one hundred and fifty per cent. However, these indices of increase have all remained below that of the consumption expenditure per capita during the same period.

Table 90. Increase in School Education Expenditures per Pupil Paid by Parents in Local Public Elementary, Lower Secondary and Upper Secondary Schools

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Note: Actual numbers are given in Basic Table 86. Basic Table 86

Next, student expenses for higher education in the year 1968, are shown in Figure 46.

Figure 46. Student Expenses in Universities and Junior Colleges by Establishing Body, 1968

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Note: Actual numbers are given in Basic Table 87. Basic Table 87

It can be seen that tuition and other fees paid to institutions have been relatively low in national and local public universities and junior colleges but, in private universities and junior colleges, they have accounted for as much as two thirds of the total student expense.

When one observes the increase in the annual expense per student since 1955,one notes that the index has increased by fifty per cent in national universities, by thirty per cent in local public universities and by one hundred per cent in private universities. However, such rates of increase have all been lower than those of personal consumption expenditure per capita during the same period.

Table 91. Student Expense in Universities by Establishing Body

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Note: Actual numbers are given in Basic Table 87 Basic Table 87

In the preceding sections, we have examined educational expenditures in Japan, from various aspects. We have examined chronological changes and made comparisons with those in several major countries. Based on such analyses, we will note several problems in Japanese educational expenditures, which should be solved, and we will indicate some of the measures currently being taken by the national government in these areas.