Loan Schemes Granted for Students as a European Union Financial Instrument for Education Inclusion in Its Member States

Abstract

Abstract European Union financial instruments and more specifically loan schemes are tools that have been developed and used more and more in the world we are leaving in due to their availability as well as their accessibility for the European Union member states. Due to the significant implicants in education, these loan schemes became a foundation stone in the development of education inclusion. The aim of this paper is to show the way these loan schemes have been used, the scheme of these programs, the impact they had on the beneficiaries and on the education, the challenges and possible lessons for helping in the creation of the future funding programs. In doing a better understanding and analysis, I have used a multiple case analysis representing a qualitative method that focuses on analyzing of three different case studies on three different countries that have been used loan schemes as financial instruments for giving access to higher education programs for students that were not able to and facilitate education inclusion in their state. The main findings suggests that these loan funds have a positive impact on the evolution of education inclusion, students being open to apply for them even if in some cases, the understanding of the mechanism behind it was a little bit difficult in the beginning. Overall, based on the case studies and on the number of the applicants that took advantage of these funding programs, it can be concluded that these types of financial instruments must continue to be used in the future and extended in more regions no matter of their development status.