Is a college degree worth it any more?

We’re among the most overqualified workers in Europe. Costs for third-level accommodation are eye-watering. And growing numbers of employers are looking beyond college graduates in order to broaden their talent pool or offer their own training on-site. It begs a pressing question: are degrees really worth the investment any more?

In a country with an obsession over progression to university, it might sound preposterous. The strong cultural attachment to university as the gold standard in education is evidenced by the fact that 54 per cent of the population have a third-level degree compared with the OECD average of 41 per cent. There will always be some professions that require the high standard of education offered by a level eight degree, including medicine and veterinary science, for instance.

However, many employers are looking beyond degrees. Some tech firms – Apple, IBM, Google and Tesla – have publicly announced their commitment to prioritise skills over degrees in key areas and have eliminated degrees as a requirement in many areas, according to a report by the US-based Computing Technology Industry Association.

Biotechnology company BioMarin who opened an Irish base more than a decade ago, and employs 550 people across Ireland, is also looking beyond a degrees-only approach.

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“We recruit graduates, but we also have robust internship, training and apprenticeship programmes, recognising that people enter the workforce at various stages in their lives,” says Conor Delaney, site lead and vice-president of Shanbally manufacturing operations, part of BioMarin.

“We are focused on finding the right candidates [and] our most recent intake of apprentices represent people that are both early in their career and those who have worked for a number of years, bringing diverse insights and experiences to BioMarin. We invest in our people and provide training and support throughout an individual’s career.”

Code Institute, which offers accelerated training in coding to people of all ages, works with individuals with or without degrees.

“We attract people of all ages, including those who dropped out of computer science, neurodivergent people, school leavers and career changers,” says Jane Gormley, Code Institute’s director of employer engagement.

“A lot more people commence degrees than complete them – particularly in computer science. Outdated career guidance, lack of awareness of alternative routes and endless pressurised Leaving Cert conversations are all confusing and quite stressful for school leavers. The results? Many people end up in the wrong place, on the wrong path, and then struggle. Then perhaps drop out, and feel lost and depleted before they’ve even got started.

“Degrees are not the only route. Four years of unpaid training is not available to everyone, and recruitment today has to consider diversity and inclusion in their workplace. Modern workplaces place a strong emphasis on ongoing skills training, practices and performance through various stages of your career,” Gormley says.

[ Getting to college: ‘Further education was my stepping stone, but I didn’t expect how much I would enjoy it’ ]

There is also growing evidence at home and abroad that the earning gap between university graduates and apprentices has narrowed; in some cases, apprentices now out-earn their graduate counterparts, according to UK research, in some cases by up to 270 per cent more.

Andrew Brownlee, chief executive of Solas, the further education and training (FET) agency, says alternatives such as apprenticeships and traineeships are becoming more attractive.

“People think of college and big lecture halls, massive campuses and a four-year commitment, but a degree might not suit everyone or reflect their areas of interest,” says Brownlee.

“It is seen as an essential life experience and almost a rite of passage; we need to convince people that further education can offer some of these experiences, without a four-year commitment. And they are either free or, in the case of apprenticeships, paid.”

Apprenticeship options extend beyond traditional options such as plumbing and motor mechanics to include cybersecurity, auctioneering, recruitment and much more – many of which are offered as level eight degrees.

[ Planning ahead: Key financial considerations for graduates entering the workforce ]

At the same time, Solas and successive ministers for education – most recently, Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris – have developed traineeships where people can get specific, skills-focused, on-the-job training. Post-Leaving Cert courses, as well as offering a valuable qualification in their own right, increasingly offer an alternative pathway to college. And, more recently, new degrees are allowing students to begin in further education before transferring to third-level – all outside the usual CAO route.

Michael Gillespie, general secretary of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland, which represents post-primary teachers and staff at third-level, says Ireland is only beginning to consider alternative pathways.

“We are not resourcing them properly and still trying to do it on the cheap. Meanwhile, the Leaving Cert is highly competitive and by using it as a requirement for entry [to] third-level, it is more stressful than it needs to be. And the costs of third-level as well as the requirement for six years of college to qualify as a post-primary teacher are promoting socioeconomic inequality and making it harder for disadvantaged schools to recruit,” he says.

Gillespie says any form of education is an advantage and never wasted, but third-levels are under strain due to a “completely predictable demographic bulge” that is forcing educators to do more with less, leading inevitably to drop-outs and higher fail rates.

Career psychologist Sinéad Brady, meanwhile, agrees with Gormley that career guidance is not adequately resourced – a theme that comes up again and again in background conversations with guidance counsellors about their working day.

“People are made to feel a degree is expected of them, but some of the most talented people I work with don’t have degrees. We fail to look at what is most suited to an individual, and yet we know that, in many postcodes, everyone or almost everyone goes to third-level, whereas further education and apprenticeship is more likely to be bunched in less advantaged areas. But a postcode does not determine your interest.

Brady says a lack of investment in career education leads to bewilderment about the range of learning options and a lack of understanding about how to build and manage careers, leading to too many overqualified graduates and employers who don’t always understand their own workforce needs.

However, Dr Graham Love, an education consultant with professional services firm Mazars and a former Higher Education Authority chief executive, warns against discarding degrees.

“College helps you to mature, form relationships and life skills. With the exception of about 10 per cent of courses that do require domain knowledge, such as architecture or medicine, the specific knowledge you pick up during a four-year course is applicable but may have little direct relevance after 10 years in the workforce. Degrees teach you how to acquire knowledge, sift through information and apply it,” he says.

“They’re not the only route, they can be expensive in terms of lost earnings while learning, and the earnings premium, while still high, may decrease over time with more graduates ... But degrees are a good route – and not just for your job: there is a link between your level of education and your engagement as an informed citizen,” Love says.

What do graduates earn?

€555: average weekly earnings for new college graduates with honours degree or level eight qualifications in 2019, higher than those with higher certificates or level six (€285) and ordinary degrees or level seven (€470).

€1,140: average earnings for DCU graduates 10 years after college, followed by UCD (€1,115) and Trinity (€1,065).

78% – the proportion of honours degree graduates in employment within nine months of leaving college; a further 18 per cent go on to complete further study, according to the Higher Education Authority.

64% – the proportion of Post-Leaving Cert graduates who find substantial employment; a further 27 per cent progress into higher education, according to Solas.

30% – proportion of university graduates working in areas where their qualifications go unused, according to a study from the Nevin Economic Research Institute and Maynooth University.