pp. 293-333

French students often have trouble paying for their education, the real cost of which greatly exceeds tuition fees. Comparative analysis of higher education payment systems in France, England and Sweden indicates that income-contingent loan repayment systems (ICLRs) are relatively effective and fair. It would therefore seem socially just and legitimate to import such systems into France. However, in addition to the question of how to integrate an arrangement of this sort into the French higher education payment system, the fairness of such arrangements depends on a set of specific social conditions, conditions to be found in England and Sweden. Taking account of those conditions, analysis of two simulations of a « French-style » ICLR system reveals that the cost of adapting the arrangement to the French social context would be uncertainty as to impact on social inequalities.