This report was drawn up by The Institute of Eastern Europe under the direction of V.V. Anashvili on demand of New Eurasia Foundation. The authors of this report set themselves as an object the analysis of scales, general principles, standard conditions and problems of educational crediting in Russia. The results of analysis are shown to be useful in order to work up both the legislative measures of governmental support of educational crediting and the innovative banking and corporate products.

This article describes a recent growth in programms of student loans, analyses the international experience of student crediting both in market-economy and developing countries. The way these programms affect the student mobility and the mobility on labour-market are also considered.

In keeping with the themes of this special issue-namely tuition fees, student financial assistance, and the theory and practice of higher educational cost-sharing-this article will examine the particularly faltering steps in the Russian Federation (indeed in all of the so-called transitional countries) towards implementation of a workable student loan program. It will briefly review the case for cost-sharing, student loans, governmental participation in student loans, and the principal forms of student loans in use around the world. This article will then review Russia's initial steps toward a student loan program, some of the problems with these ventures, and the applicability of the increasingly popular (as of 2005) income contingent student loan models for Russia and other transitional countries. We close with some recommendations for consideration in the further deliberations about Student loans in the Russian Federation.

The author of this article describes the experience of Krein company in the sphere of student crediting. The credit conditions, rights and duties, measures to prevent the loss of debt are also considered.

The article presents the analysis of the regional experience in the financial support of not sufficiently provided students who get professional education on the contract basis. It describes different models and mechanisms providing equal access to higher education on the territory of Kemerovo region: educational credit and educational subsidy. The authors offer the ways of further development of the regional system of educational funding.

The following article suggests a short analysis of the current situation with higher education credits in Russia, and also the general approach to develop an effective system of educational crediting. This system is supposed to be realised in the context of existing legislation, taking into account the level of development of Russian financial and educational market.

The author of this article examines the problem of accessibility of higher education using the economic theory
approach. The strategy that follows from this theory is also suggested. Three components of this strategy such as deffered
payment, income contingency loan, active steps towards increase of access to higher education are described as applicable
for all countries.

The present article considers the existing system of student support and also the changes which have to occur soon
and which are already determined. The author begins from the description of the system of higher education in Netherlands
and the schemes of its financing. After that, the author considers the current system of student support. It consists of three
components: a basic grant, an educational loan with rates and an additional grant for students, whose parents dont have
sufficient means to pay.

The author of this article considers Alternative Student Loans - ASL as one of the highest growth segments of
student loans market in USA. The factors determing their prevalence, the history of ASL and their comparison with
Income Contingency Loans are also under the discussion.