OECD Report Links Higher-Education Access With Student Support, Despite Tuition

By Aisha Labi. High tuition costs are not necessarily a deterrent to disadvantaged young people in deciding whether to attend university, so long as widely available student-loan and support programs are also in place, according to a new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The finding, which will resonate widely at a time when many governments are discussing whether to raise tuition in their efforts to increase financing for higher education, is among the results in "Education at a Glance 2012: OECD Indicators," the latest edition in an annual series that analyzes education data from the Paris-based group's 34 member countries, which include many European countries as well as Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United States. As in previous years, the compilation also includes data from non-OECD countries, including Argentina, Brazil, China, India, and Russia.