Abstract

Student fees in Italian Universities are traditionally fixed following single University autonomy, within a constraint set in a State law (fee revenue cannot exceed 20 percent of overall revenues). In 2016 a new bill reduced considerably University autonomy by defining a no-fee area and the maximum fee a single University can charge.The threshold of the no-fee area is the same for all Universities: thus, the revenue of each University depends on how wide the no-fee area is connected to the income distribution resulting from student households' tax returns. This points to a bigger revenue loss for the Universities of Southern Italy, where income distribution is more skewed towards low incomes. Moreover, this loss is bigger due to student migration from Southern Universities to Northern ones, and this effect of the Italian territorial dualism is not properly evaluated according to the compensation criterion of the Education Ministry funding.