JAMES FRYAR, B.Sc., M.Sc.,
Madam, - As a post-graduate student, I want to make a number of points concerning the mooted reintroduction of college tuition fees.
We currently have State-funded primary and secondary education systems, yet there is no public uproar when wealthy parents decide not to opt for private schools. The reason for this, I would suggest, is that everyone recognises that the rich already contribute through higher taxation. The well-off have as much right to "free" education as anyone else because they have already helped to pay for it.
The wealthy have made up the shortfall in Government expenditure on third-level education. Many buildings and facilities at our universities, institutes and colleges were partially or wholly financed by individuals who made no stipulations regarding the income level of the students who avail of them.
The suggestion by politicians that the rich should "pay if they can afford it" is therefore already a reality due to their own lack of investment. If Government statistics are to be believed, third-level graduates earn 85 per cent more on average than secondary-level graduates. To put this another way, salaries and therefore tax contributions are, on average, increased as a result of further education. Many students conduct research as part of their post-graduate studies. This enhances our knowledge-based society and directly enhances our economic wealth. And of course, our society and economy (including the multinational corporations which invest millions of euro due to our large numbers of graduates) benefit from the doctors, nurses, engineers, scientists and artists that the system churns out.
In short, third-level graduates already more than compensate taxpayers, financially, socially and culturally, for their comparatively small investment in education under the free-fees scheme. To argue otherwise is factually inaccurate and an insult. Graduates, even those from well-off backgrounds, generate wealth. They don't divert cash from other sectors.
Re-introducing fees will not create the social reforms necessary to encourage underprivileged students to attend third-level colleges. The proposal is, in my opinion, a witch-hunt aimed at persuading people to "blame the wealthy" for a particular social problem - rather than the Government's lack of investment and its failure to tackle the underlying issues while it they had the money. - Yours , etc.,
JAMES FRYAR, B.Sc., M.Sc.,
Warren Green,
Dublin 13.