POOR CAREER guidance and concerns about financial hardship are among the factors limiting college take-up by certain social groups, according to a new Higher Education Authority (HEA) study published today.
The study examines why participation – by the group which includes Garda sergeants, taxi drivers and low-level service workers – has remained stubbornly low, at a time when the take-up by all other groups has increased dramatically. Between 1998 and 2004, the numbers of school leavers and others entering college increased from 44 to 54 per cent.
The take-up by what is known as the non-manual group bucked this trend, falling from 29 per cent in 1998 to 27 per cent in 2004.
The group also includes lower ranks of the Garda, government executive officials, bus-drivers, barbers, air stewards and waiters/ waitresses.
The main findings include;
- Many of those who did not progress to third level often received little guidance in school;
- Guidance was variously absent, only focused on the honours class or directed away from higher education;
- Parents did not have experience of higher education while siblings were also unfamiliar with the college process and college choices;
- Financial commitment to study was seen as too great or entailing too much hardship.
Many students also felt they would be ineligible for financial support – or that the support available was inadequate.
The report says the pull of the labour market was also a factor in drawing this group away from higher education.
In his foreword to the report, HEA chairman, Michael Kelly, says these perceived financial barriers have implications for young people’s aspirations.
“Worringly the evidence suggests that non participants in higher education among this group were disaffected from an early age.’’
Those who did enter third level were also more likely to drop out, he said.