自1999年起實施「彈性調整學雜費方案」後，政府給予學校更大之自主空間，讓各校依其辦學理念收取所需經費，並且希望學生能獲得相對應之教育品質，使學雜費回歸市場機制。經過各校一連串之學雜費調整後，如何以教育品質來看待學雜費之調整？由於教育品質不斷的提升且各個學校提供的教育資源、教育品質不同，若以同質性產品假設下之一般消費分析應用於此，可能有偏頗之疑慮。因此，本研究以差異性產品為觀點之特徵價格法 (hedonic price approach) 將影響學雜費的教育品質或各項特徵因素拆離為教師具博士學位比、單位專任教師發表期刊論文數、單位專任教師學術研究計劃補助款、生師比、每生圖書資源、每生儀器設備經費、學校類別、學校之區位等方面進行探討。其後，進一步設定學校的教育資源與教育品質等數量固定於基期下，建立1999年至2004年台灣私立大學之學雜費經調整品質後之價格指數 (quality-adjusted price index)，觀察學雜費經過品質調整後之趨勢。 實證結果發現教師具博士學位比、單位專任教師發表期刊論文數、單位專任教師學術研究計劃補助款、生師比、每生儀器設備經費皆為隨著特徵品質的提升使得學雜費也一併提升，而每生圖書資源在各校之改善下，學生可以更低廉的花費享受更多的圖書資源。另外，1999年至2004年學雜費之特徵價格指數幾乎為100 0.1之間，與名目學雜費價格指數波動在103~105.6相比較，顯示在實施學雜費彈性調整方案後，各校並沒有如各界所顧慮之皆將學雜費調整至上限，而學雜費彈性方案中所訂定之上下界之限制對於校方進行決策時並無太大作用，各校仍會顧慮學生之需求面及自身之成本面而訂定適當之學雜費。 In 1999, the Ministry of Education implemented the “Flexible Adjustment of Tuition and Fees” plan to allow universities to set tuition according to actual operating costs and resources offered to students. Although the tuition and fees paid by students have been increasing steadily, the quality of higher education has also been improved constantly over the past few years. To investigate the relationship between tuition and fees of private universities and the educational quality, this study adopts the hedonic price approach by estimating a hedonic function of higher education. The estimated results are then employed to construct a quality-adjusted price index of private universities of Taiwan. Specifically, the educational quality is assessed according to six dimensions including the ratio of the full-time faculty member with Ph. D, average volume of published papers by a full-time faculty member, average research grants of a full-time faculty member, student/faculty ratio, library resources per student, and expenses of apparatus per student. The results show that library resources can be obtained by students more cheaply. In addition, the quality-adjusted price index of higher education for private universities ranges from 99.9 to 100.2 during the period of 1999 to 2004, which suggests that the tuition and fees are determined by universities according to their actual operating costs and resources available to students.
