Sir, – Alice MacPherson ("Student loans will ensure route to university stays open", Opinion & Analysis, December 23rd) proposes a student loan system for third-level education. Ms MacPherson admits that the loan system in the UK is not perfect. The truth is worse than that; the UK's Higher Education Commission described the current situation as unsustainable. The commission's report concluded that, with the total amount of debt for the average student standing at approximately €60,000, a full 73 per cent of students will not repay their debt in full. The commission "questions any system that charges higher education at a rate where the average graduate will not be able to pay it back".
Decrying universal education as unrealistic seems to be either a selective reading of the facts, or another case of succumbing to Ireland’s peculiar brand of fatalism. Universal access is common in Europe, and it works.
Norway, for example, has a similar higher education participation rate to both Ireland and the UK. Higher education in Norway is universally free, funded by central government. Norwegian students may also apply for a loan for living costs. In Denmark, not only is tuition free, but students are provided with monthly aid. Society must pay for this, but receives a return.
Dismissing viable, even optimal, solutions to societal challenges merely because an election is imminent would perpetually block progress, and result in populist or ideologically driven policies.
Despite the benefits of improving access to education, fear of public spending will be the bedrock of persistent opposition to universal tertiary education. Yet public funds are used to subsidise access to institutions most members of the public could never afford to attend. In 2013, government subsidies to private schools totalled €115 million.
Amounting to a third of the cost of higher education student grants in 2015, the abolition of public funding of private institutions is surely the first step (of many) in creating a well-funded, optimally functioning public education system.
Universal secondary education was introduced in the 1960s. Would we now even countenance a student loan system to pay for secondary schooling? – Is mise,
RICHARD
LOMBARD VANCE,
Dublin 1.