Household expenditure for children's education

Abstract

For both develop and developing countries, in today’s modern society an educated workforce is essential to development and growth, knowledge, as well as skills, not only equip people for work, but also increase social awareness and aid the development of the country as a whole. Education also enables a developing society to adjust itself more readily to changing markets and emerging technologies. And whereas it is predominantly to responsibility of governments to create policies which relate to the implementation of budget allocation, education expenditure invariably becomes an burden to the household. In the study on “Household Expenditure for Children’s Education”, research data were taken from the Socio Economic Survey (SES) conducted annually by the National Statistical Office (NSO). The study will focus on surveyed data from 1998 to 2002, and a stratified two-stage sampling was adopted for the survey.Sample size was carefully considered in order to find out estimate household expenditure on children’s education in any education level and provider. The results are presents by percentage, frequency, mean and standard deviation, including four items of expenditures, which include total expenditure, tuition fee/school fee, miscellaneous expenses, and the proportion of education expenditure in relation to total household expenditure. In addition, Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA) is employed to analyze the influence of household head characteristics, household characteristics, and social context on household expenditure for children’s education. The results of the analysis on the household expenditure for children’s education show that the tuition fee/school fee in private educational institutions is higher than that in public educational institutions, at all education levels: The findings indicate a 3.83 times higher expenditure at fundamental school level, a 3.47 times higher expenditure at vocational school level, and a 2.89 times higher expenditure at higher education level. Data for miscellaneous expenses show that at both private and public institutions the average expense per month for students at fundamental school level is 1,458.61 baht, for students at vocational school level 2,522.23 baht, and 5,020.20 baht for students at higher education level. The findings of factors affecting the proportion of education expenditure in relation to household expenditure at each education level are also revealed. At the fundamental school level, it was found that the explanatory models for both private and public schools were statistically significant at .05. At this level, significant factors include age, type of household, size of household, total income, total expenditure, number of children attending school, region, and year. At the vocational school level, the related factors include age, work status, size of household, total expenditure, number of children attending school, region, and year. Similarly, at the higher education level, the influential factors include age, work status, size of household, total expenditure, number of children attending school, region, and year. Results from this analysis suggest that with respect to the allocation of government expenditure policies should be created that will enhance education systems in both private and public institutions. In addition, subsidies for education expenditures must be consistently revised and adjusted since education expenses vary for each household. Government subsidies should also consider the particular and differing necessities and requirements of each region. Finally, the number of children attending school (at any education level) is the key variable that affects household expenditures, and a strategy should therefore be implemented to assist families with children. If households have more than one child attending school, the government must be able to assist these households in order for their children to have equal access to education.