A public choice approach is used to examine the level of a tax‐financed grant chosen by a cohort, allowing for a wide range of interdependencies, including the goverment's budget constraint The existence of an externality is necessary, but not sufficient, for support of a grant It is shown that a majority voting equilibrium exists. Comparative static analyses are carried out using a minimum of assumptions about the structure of the model An increase in government expenditure for non‐higher education purposes is associated with an increase in the preferred grant while an increase in private returns to education reduces the g