Sir, – I refer to Carl O'Brien's article "Next government faces major decision on student loan scheme" (November 27th).
Apparently the idea is that you start paying back your loan only after you reach a certain income level.
The result, of course, would be the emigration of our most talented graduates to become tax-resident elsewhere – a massive brain drain.
The alternative would be even worse – saddling graduates with an unrepayable debt for the rest of their lives, as in the US.
Society as a whole benefits from higher – and further – education, which is why society as a whole should pay for it.
The reason for the current social imbalance in availing of higher education is that many middle-class parents push young people who would be better suited to a trade into university, just as many working-class parents are unaware of the potential of a university education for their own off-spring.
School-leavers should be given the opportunity to develop their talents, rather than being at the mercy of their parents’ blind spots on the one hand, or their social ambitions on the other.
For every potential scientist that is lost to a working-class family, a potential plumber is lost to the middle-class one.
We need to change the underlying mind-set that gives rise to this, rather than adjusting the financial system to accommodate it. For a start, we could look to Germany as a model, rather than Australia or the US.
– Yours, etc,
PAUL O’BRIEN
Lamb Alley,
Dublin 8.