Abstract: Due to the limitations of the traditional investment channels, China’s basic endowment insurance fund is confronted with the tremendous pressure of preserving and increasing the value. The study reveals that, besides the student loan program dominated by the government, the loan program for higher education provided by the pension fund can not only match the investment principles of safety, long-term and profitability, but also bring about the double improvements of the fair educational opportunities for workers and the efficiency of consumption resources allocation during the life cycle. Through measurements and comparisons of the wage income and the level of the individual old-age insurance accounts between the workers with high-school degree or junior-college degree or bachelor degree or master degree, it is found that to provide the workers with high-school degree with higher education student loan from the pension fund can significantly raise the level of their wages and their individual old-age insurance account, and the higher education degrees will generate higher wage and pension income. Based on the above analysis, it is suggested to develop pension fund to be a supplement to the program of government higher education student loan, to let loose the identity restrictions for the applicants, and to increase the loan amount properly.

Key words: pension fund; investment; higher education; student loan program; elasticity of labor substitution