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A level playing field? A comparative analysis of financial student aid in Sweden and Germany

Hampel, Julia LU (2023) EOSK12 20231
Department of Economic History
Abstract
This qualitative case study compares two different student aid systems, the
universal Swedish one (CSN) with the needs-based German one (Bafög) to determine their
effect to facilitate enrollment in university education and reduce socioeconomic inequalities.
For this, tertiary students in Germany and Sweden were surveyed for their opinion on the
equality of their respective student aid systems. John Rawl’s theory of distributive justice is
used as a baseline for equality. It is shown that while the Swedish system promotes equality
due to its good accessibility and financial reliability, the German system does not as financial
support was shown to vary across students while student aid was difficult to access and
maintain. Therefore,... (More)
This qualitative case study compares two different student aid systems, the
universal Swedish one (CSN) with the needs-based German one (Bafög) to determine their
effect to facilitate enrollment in university education and reduce socioeconomic inequalities.
For this, tertiary students in Germany and Sweden were surveyed for their opinion on the
equality of their respective student aid systems. John Rawl’s theory of distributive justice is
used as a baseline for equality. It is shown that while the Swedish system promotes equality
due to its good accessibility and financial reliability, the German system does not as financial
support was shown to vary across students while student aid was difficult to access and
maintain. Therefore, it is recommended for the German system to be reformed towards a
more universal student aid system to make educational access fairer and to reduce
socioeconomic inequalities. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Hampel, Julia LU
supervisor
organization
course
EOSK12 20231
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
student aid, student finance, CSN, Bafög, Germany, Sweden, economic equality, John Rawls, distributive justice, welfare states
language
English
id
9122546
date added to LUP
2023-06-22 12:19:14
date last changed
2023-06-22 12:19:14
@misc{9122546,
  abstract     = {{This qualitative case study compares two different student aid systems, the
universal Swedish one (CSN) with the needs-based German one (Bafög) to determine their
effect to facilitate enrollment in university education and reduce socioeconomic inequalities.
For this, tertiary students in Germany and Sweden were surveyed for their opinion on the
equality of their respective student aid systems. John Rawl’s theory of distributive justice is
used as a baseline for equality. It is shown that while the Swedish system promotes equality
due to its good accessibility and financial reliability, the German system does not as financial
support was shown to vary across students while student aid was difficult to access and
maintain. Therefore, it is recommended for the German system to be reformed towards a
more universal student aid system to make educational access fairer and to reduce
socioeconomic inequalities.}},
  author       = {{Hampel, Julia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{A level playing field? A comparative analysis of financial student aid in Sweden and Germany}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}