Policy Implementation

Students’ opinions representative for Germany (HIS 2008)[1] and questions addressed to students in Bulgaria included in the survey of March 2009 show the actual need of options for postponed payment.

For Germany: 23% of the students rely on student loans (BAföG), and another 32% have thought about this option. Social origin and the possibility for the student to obtain a loan as a supplement for the limited family resources, are essential factors of applying for a loan – 47% of the students of low social origin have taken a loan, while only 11% of those of high social origin have done so. The importance of the existence of the loan option is more important prior to applying for the university - 66% of the students of low origin, 64% of middle, 57% of higher than middle, and 50% of high origin, have thought about getting a loan prior to starting their studies. The differences between students during the time of their studies are not very significant - 16% of students of low, and 15% of high, origin have thought about getting a loan during their studies. There is a relationship between students’ social origin and the time period for which they make plans about their studies. Students of lower social origin make more detailed plans for their studies, including for the period after completing their education - 34% of those of low origin and only 15% of high origin, who have considered how they will fund their studies, have planned this funding far ahead in time. Thinking about  getting a loan occurs to a greater degree in those provinces where tuition fees have already been introduced - 28% of the students living in provinces where there are no tuition fees are thinking about the possibility of obtaining a loan, compared with 83% of those in provinces with tuition and 87% of students in provinces where tuition is planned to be introduced. These results illustrate the importance of students’ credits for Germany in a situation where tuition is in course of being introduced.

The survey of Bulgarian students is focused on their actual financial situation and the expression of interest towards a future when the Student Loan Act will be implemented (Stoilova 2009)[2].  The composition of the sample is as follows: educational status of the father - only one percent (1.1%) of the respondents have a father with basic or lower level of education. In the case of 25.8% the father has obtained secondary education, 32.6% have a father with a college or similar post secondary level of education, and 40.5%, a father with tertiary education. Similar is the educational structure of the mothers – basic and lower 1.0%, secondary 20.9%, post secondary non tertiary education 30.0%, tertiary education 48.1%. According to place of origin, the students are: from a rural origin 5.9%, small town 23%, big town 43.4% , capital city 27.6%. The self-identification of respondents is: most frequently with the middle class - 76.8%, with the working class - 16.4%, with the upper class 5.3%, with farmers 0.6%. Most of the respondents are ethnic Bulgarian; Turks are 0.8%,  Roma are 0.6%, others  - 1.7%.

The social composition of the students demonstrates that the access to tertiary education depends on the educational status of their parents. The universities do not reflect the social composition of the national society and local communities. The practice of “fair access office” that exists in the United Kingdom represents the responsibility taken by the higher schools of attracting students from the poorest social strata through grants and active information policy; thus they guarantee access to education by minimizing the effects of origin[3]. There is a need in Bulgaria to address the policy for wider access to good education towards the universities.

There is a slight prevalence of the belief that people in Bulgaria have equal chances to access tertiary education irrespectively of their gender, ethnicity and social origin: respondents who agree with this view are 52.9%; can’t say - 24.4%; disagree-19.7%. But evidently, nearly half the respondents either do not share this belief about equal chances or can’t make up their minds. The equal access thesis is not shared in the same proportion by students of different social origins. The opinion that there is equal access is more widespread among children of parents with a secondary - 27.7%, upper secondary - 32.3% and tertiary education - 39.3%, than among students with low educational status of the parents (father with basic education - 16.7%). Disagreement with the statement about the equal access is expressed by: 2.5% of respondents whose father has a basic education, 25.0% with secondary, 32.5% with upper secondary, 32.4% with tertiary education. Complete disagreement with the equal access thesis is indicated by 5.4% of students with a family background of basic education, 21.6% of secondary education background, 40.5% of upper secondary education background, and 32.4% of tertiary background.  The strongest disagreement with the equal access thesis is expressed by students whose fathers obtained upper secondary education.

The more popular part of the meritocratic thesis states that the influence of better origin is justified when it is transmitted through better education. The second part – that it is justified providing the less privileged can also have access – is less frequently indicated (Swift,  Мarshall 1997). Regarding the assertion that it is just for people with higher income to be able to pay a better education for their children than people with lower income, 23.5% of respondents agree, and 58.2% disagree.

In the situation of lack of family income, student loans are a form of postponed payment. Students considering taking on a loan are 42%; unwilling – 34.3%; undecided – 23.7%. Nearly half the students express readiness to take a loan, but they were not asked in the form of a representative survey during the elaboration of the Act. Students were represented by associations during the public discussions in the process of elaboration of the law. Civil society organizations, however, have shown several shortcomings as participants in the public debate. One of their deficits is their lack of expert capacity needed to take a well-grounded stand on the issue and to have authentic rather than superficial participation (Arnstein 1969)[4]. In order for participation to be authentic, it is important to have control over resources and be able to obtain an independent expertise.

While the loans guaranteed by the state remain unimplemented, the income from employment remains an important component of the students’ income. One third of the respondents work during their university studies (33.2%). The average number of working hours per week is 35, as indicated by half the working respondents. This amounts to full time employment.  The payment is as follows:  up to 200 leva - 9.2%; 200 to 500 leva - 47.4%; and over 500 leva - 43.4%.  Loans as a form of postponed payment could contribute to limiting the impact of origin and improve the quality of university studies, leaving more time for the core academic activity of the students.

Conclusions

Present research explored the two phases of the elaboration of the public policy – the adoption of the legal norm and its implementation.  The Student Loan Act has been analyzed as a specific case. Its adoption was postponed for a long period of time and its implementation is not at all guaranteed. The low level of social trust, the low level of mutual trust between the political actors represented in the parliament, and mistrust between the institutions, accounts for the delayed adoption of the Act and for the blocking of its implementation. As an outcome the legal norm does not serve as a stable foundation for guaranteeing individual freedom and choice of educational services.

There is a discrepancy between the legal norm and its implementation. The interests of the different actors (corporative entities, banks) are not sufficiently guaranteed in the law. The arguments of the Association of Banks were not taken seriously due to the inertia of the past regarding the prescriptive role of the state. There are several reasons for the low quality of the law but the main obstacle is that the law left certain important questions to be decided by administrative authorities. Difficulties and inefficiency resulted from this in the implementation of the legal norm. The government remained ineffective in enforcing a policy for provision of financial services by independent commercial entities.

The focus in the present investigation is represented by the link between legal order and social structure. The analysis of the normative and the institutional context of the higher education are mainly in relation to the openness of the system. The question of the equal opportunity chances for young people with a different social background is essential for the investigation of the allocation of public funding to students. The analysis has provided sufficient evidence that the Student Loan Act in Bulgaria was imposed from the top, being adopted from the current practice in developed western societies. The content of the law is however quite narrow in comparison with the practice in Germany. Tuition fees will be paid directly to the university. In Germany the recent development is towards greater flexibility and individual choice of options for obtainment of state-guaranteed credits for education. The alternative hypothesis – that the legal norm is oriented to the needs of the social groups and individuals exerting pressure from below for its adoption – was not supported by the analysis of parliamentary discourse. The needs and expectations of the students and their families were not consulted by the political parties and respectively were not presented during the parliamentary debates.

The development towards liberalization is present in the reduction of public funding and the increased share of private funding for education. However, taking steps towards increasing public funding to students has been systematically postponed. The negative impact of the postponed reforms in Bulgarian higher education is evident for the competition with European universities, where students can rely on credits guaranteed by the state. An additional negative impact is the decreased quality of education due to students having to support themselves through studies by working.

Further research on social stratification in the access to higher education is needed. For instance, the gender dimension remains unexplained. The role of gender in the choice of academic studies, in the opportunity for a non-traditional route to tertiary education[5], the access to higher education for young women from families with a low educational tradition and for minority ethnic groups, are all important for the Bulgarian context and for international comparisons.