UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

Cost-sharing refers to shifting part of the financial burden of higher education from the state to students and their families through mechanisms such as tuition fees and user charges. Public universities that charge fees in addition to receiving government grants are implementing a cost-sharing model. The stem describes exactly this combination of public grants and student fees, making “cost-sharing” the correct term. Thus, Option B is appropriate.

Option A:
Cost-sharing is often justified on grounds of limited public funds and the private benefits students gain from higher education. However, it raises important questions about affordability and equity, which are widely discussed in the higher education system, matching the context of the question.

Option B:
Complete privatisation would involve reliance mainly on private funding with minimal or no government grants, which is not what the stem describes. Therefore, Option A is not correct here.

Option C:
Zero-budgeting is a budgeting technique where each expense must be justified from scratch in each period and does not directly refer to the mix of grants and fees, so Option C is inappropriate.

Option D:
A barter system involves exchange of goods and services without money and is unrelated to modern mechanisms of higher education finance. Thus, Option D clearly does not fit the stem.