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

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.