Students from lower income households have always been able to turn to public institutions of higher learning to make their dreams come true. Public universities, whether national, prefectural or municipal, offered high quality education for much less money. However, a recent survey by a research group at the University of Tokyo has found that the well-publicized widening income gap is now being reflected in public university enrollments.
The survey received 1,064 responses from parents of children who graduated high school in the spring of 2012. Households where the annual income was ¥4 million or less were classified as low income, while those whose annual income was ¥10.5 or more were classified as high income.
The percentage of low income students who advanced to a public university last year was 7.4, while the percentage of high income students who did the same was 20.4. In other words, the enrollment rate for higher income students was almost three times that of lower income students.