Factors affecting students' attitude towards introduction of tuition fees for higher education in the Czech Republic

Introduction of tuition fees has been much discussed in the Czech Republic over the recent years. Unfortunately, the current system of non-discriminate higher-education funding is no longer supportable, that is, provided that we do not want all universities to be evenly "mediocre". A well configured tuition-fee system with low payments, suitably complemented by student loans covering not only the tuition fees but also the subsistence costs could be an acceptable vision of the future higher education. The obligation to pay for the study should also prevent from enrolment those applicants that only enter a university to avoid having to cater for themselves in real life. A survey was conducted to find out the views of Czech university students on the introduction of tuition fees and the possible methods of their payment. A subsequent analysis was made to see whether the introduction of tuition fees would aggravate students' financial situation, whether they would be more motivated to complete the studies in due time, and whether they would be more concerned with the quality of teaching. The survey also analysed the relationship between a respondent's view on the introduction of tuition fees and the current methods of financing the studies (accommodation, transport, meals, textbooks, ...), the household income, and the gender. It also takes into account the attitude of respondents on the system of student loans proposed. In order to interpret the results correspondence and dependence analysis were used.