Having a degree is worth €1m to you and to the State

BY THE end of this week the majority of the 60,000 students sitting the Leaving Certificate will have completed this most difficult and traumatic exam. It’s a good time to remind them that the hard years of study and effort does make a difference and pays off for them – and society – in every sense of the word.

A fascinating new book by the former head of the National College of Ireland, Dr Paul Mooney, is a stark reminder of the sheer importance and worth of continuing in education.

In his book, The Million Euro Decision, the Cabra-born butcher-turned-academic argues that the benefits to the individual and the State of completing third-level education is, in stark terms, worth more than €1m.

Over 300 pages, Mooney argues that educational disadvantage acts as a brake on social progress.

And when I looked into the statistics there is both good and bad news.

I am disappointed but not shocked to learn that the worst participation rates in third level are in my own home area of Ballyfermot in Dublin. Dubliners, on average, are less likely to get to third level than their country cousins.

The counties along the west coast from Sligo to Kerry do best, with an average of 60% of second-level students making it to third level – the Dublin figure is 47%.

But even within the capital the participation rates at third level vary widely – some parts of south Dublin see only 1% of their second level students not making it to third level. But Ballyfermot suffers from the lowest third-level participation rates in the country, with only 16% getting beyond the Leaving Certificate.

This is a lot better than when I went to Trinity College in the 1970s, when only 1% from my secondary school went to third level. So today, while participation rates are 16 times better in Ballyfermot than 40 years ago, students from the leafy suburbs are six times more likely to get through the front gate of UCD or TCD.

In fairness to Trinity, it has led the way in championing access schemes through its trailblazing TAP programme. While other colleges have paid lip service to encouraging less well-off students powering into College, Trinity has consistently and persistently resourced their access programme, which has generated real results.

The Government is trying to tell us we are close to full employment – but anyone travelling around the less well-off parts of this country knows this is a statistical illusion.

Many people are still unemployed and, in the view of Paul Mooney, under-employed.

Mooney goes further by estimating that while the benefit to the individual over a lifetime by going to third level is close to €1m, the benefit to the State through income tax and non-payment of various state aids is well over that €1m mark.

So, it’s a win-win situation. Education has numerous benefits. No other change in society would make such a massive difference.

The Million Euro Decision by Paul Mooney is published by Liffey Press.