A chara, – The leaks regarding the draft report on the future of higher education funding in Ireland are, at best, a mixed bag ("Graduates would pay €25 a week in 15-year loan scheme", Front Page, December 14th). While it is entirely welcome that the need for greater investment in the underfunded sector is recognised, the suggestion of a student loan scheme as a panacea is deeply regrettable. I am particularly mindful of research that shows people from lower-income backgrounds to be more risk-averse and debt-averse; presumably this means they are less likely to shoulder the proposed 15-year debt of €16,000, and thus will be deterred from entering higher education. It would be a great shame if Ireland decides to abandon its commitment to socially funded education in favour of a market-driven model that excludes vulnerable people. – Is mise,
LUKE FIELD,
Drumcondra,
Dublin 9.
Sir, – I read with some annoyance the reaction of the Union of Students in Ireland to the proposed income-contingent loan system for university graduates ("USI critical of proposed loan-system for graduates", December 14th). The USI offers little in the way of constructive engagement and its bleating on the issue of fees is getting tiresome. This is quite clearly a progressive initiative and a modicum of vaguely positive rhetoric from the USI, even along the lines of "a step in the right direction but with more work to do", would be far more welcome.
As a student in Ireland, I find it enormously irritating that I have to make an annual payment to an organisation that quite often represents a viewpoint diametrically opposed to my own. – Yours, etc,
TOM KELLY,
Terenure, Dublin 6W.
Sir, – I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments expressed by Prof Tom Cotter (December 15th) on the burdens a third-level loan scheme would place on middle-income and lower-income groups.
We are regularly reminded how important a well-educated population is to our economy – it is one of the central reasons why so many high-tech multinationals have chosen to locate here. Recognition of that fact should lead the Government to invest more strongly in third-level education and those participating in it, rather than imposing economic penalties on them. – Yours, etc,
HARRY McCAULEY,
Maynooth,
Co Kildare.