Analysis Sean Flynn, Education EditorThe era of free third-level college fees is drawing to a close. Students andparents should brace themselves for some bad news
"What you had was a situation where the working people were paying for the well-off to go to university. The working people were themselves virtually denied access to university, but their taxes allowed the rich to get richer."
The senior official who made this comment to The Irish Times last month was Michael Gallagher, the highly respected head of the International Section at Australia's Department of Education. He was actually talking about the Australian third-level system before they introduced a student loan scheme in 1989.
However, he could just as easily have been talking about the current situation in the Republic. Although the numbers drawn from lower socio-economic groups has increased in the past 20 years (27 per cent now expect to go on to college), they remain pitifully low. It is still the case that you are 44 times more likely to go to college if you live in Dublin's affluent suburbs than in its inner city.
Last week, Dr Don Thornhill, chairman of the Higher Education Authority, told a Dáil committee that participation by the middle and upper classes in third-level education had now reached "saturation point". If you are a school leaver from a middle- or upper-class background in this State, the only issue is where you go to college. The idea that you would not go on to third level is now unthinkable.
But there are other realities out there. The same Dáil committee meeting heard how only 64 per cent of males in the Dublin area bother to take the Leaving Certificate exam, let alone go on to college.
One Deputy, Barry Andrews, recalled how when teaching in Ballyfermot he once asked a student what he was doing after he left school. The student replied: "Going home, Sir". The idea that he might actually be going on to third-level was not on his radar screen.
The starting points for Noel Dempsey's current review of student charges are two fold
Is it fair that those who don't go on to college subsidise - through their taxes - those who do?
What measures can we take to widen access?
In 1989, Australia faced precisely the same questions. The situation has now been transformed by the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS, which has widened access by up to 40 per cent. The Australian system is grounded in the belief that those who proceed to third level gain a significant financial advantage over the rest of society.
On Saturday, at an Ógra Fianna Fáil meeting in Portlaoise, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern was singing from the same hymn sheet. Graduates can expect to earn, on average, 57 per cent more than other workers, he said. The unspoken question was the same one begged in Australia - why should everyone else subsidise them?
Under the Australian system, students are effectively loaned about €2000 to €5000 per year. This figure is clawed back once they enter the workforce and begin to earn a decent income. Depending on their income, they pay back between three and six per cent of their annual income through the tax system. Poorer students and those graduates who fail to secure a well-paid job are exempt from all charges.
The success of the loan system in Australia is being examined closely by Department of Education officials as they continue their review of student supports here.
Any shake-up of student supports is fraught with political risk. The abolition of fees was regarded as a gift to the middle classes and they will resent any attempt to claw back this advantage. Moreover, the PDs would be very slow to support the return of fees.
For Noel Dempsey, a student-loan scheme may be a much more attractive political option. It would be very difficult for the other political parties to oppose a system which is based on actual earning - and one which is designed to generate greater equality.
But a loan system creates its own difficulties. The Department of Finance would hardly be pleased at the prospect of loaning funds to students. The Australian experience is that less than 15 per cent of students default on the loans. Also, what is to be done about Irish graduates who go on to work abroad? And how does one work out who should be exempt from paying any fees in the first instance?
That said, something must clearly be done to widen access. Loans could be one important element of the package. There may also be be increased student registration charges (currently €670) for students who can afford them. The Minister is also moving to reform the whole higher-education grant scheme. The hope is that farmers and the self-employed will no longer be able to manipulate the system - at the expense of the PAYE worker.
It is a challenging agenda for Noel Dempsey, but one which he, at least, appears to relish. "I did not," he once said, "come into politics to take the easy decisions and the soft options".
