Lifelong Debt: Rates of Return to Mature Study

Abstract

High rates of return to first degrees have been used to justify increased student financial contributions to higher education. However, no discrete study of rates of return to mature graduates has been carried out although mature graduates now form a significant proportion of the student population. The General Household Survey 1983Survey -1992 was used to examine the earnings of mature graduates compared with those of matriculates. The GHS yielded 616 mature graduate men in full-time work and 296 mature graduate women who were in full-time employment. It was found that the rate of return to mature male graduates was just above one per cent. With recent added costs, new male mature graduates can be forecast to make a sizeable loss on their study. Rates of return to women mature graduates were higher, between five and six per cent, and, based on these figures, the recent increased cost of mature graduate study should be covered by increased earnings. However, these calculations are based on average earnings for the modal age cohort of mature graduates. Those who are older when they complete or earn below the average (a large percentage) will not recoup the costs of study. Robbins, Dearing and the Analysis of Rates of ReturnIt is unlikely that human capital theory will regain the intellectual preeminence and political popularity it enjoyed in the 1960s. (Williams, 1984, p. 83) An assessment of the economic benefits to individuals from participating in higher education has been central to our work. These benefits are probably the most significant economic factor affecting demand. (National Committee of Inquiry, 1997, p. 90) Since its heyday in the 1960s, and despite the challenge of credentialist theories in the 1970s, human capital theory and the analysis of private and social rates of return have continued to exercise a powerful influence on the way recent British governments have sought to justify policies of

The effect of lifelong learning on men’s wages

“…Here too, though, it is not clear that such learning brings bene…ts in terms of increased earnings potential. Egerton & Parry (2001) report substantial penalties for late learners while Jenkins et al (2002) …nd little evidence that quali…cations gained between the ages of thirty-three and forty-two increase hourly wage growth for men. de Coulon & Vignoles (2008), on the other hand, …nd a positive wage e¤ect of quali…cations acquired between the ages of twenty-six and thirty-four, which varies depending on the level of quali…cation.…”

‘I don’t feel like ‘a student’, I feel like ‘me’!’: the over‐simplification of mature learners’ experience(s)

“…They are not necessarily all, as Bourdieu suggested, 'like fish within water' at university, so portraying them accordingly is too simplistic. And such discourse reaches beyond academic literature and into educational policy -underlying recent legislation concerning the funding of HE for instance (DfES, 2003), in terms of assumptions about the length of working career students could enjoy post-graduation (Davies and Williams, 2001), (Egerton and Parry, 2001). …”

Lifelong career mobility and change options in knowledge occupations: career pathway implications of initial degree choices

“…The opportunity cost of changing between knowledge occupations increases with age, so individuals contemplating an occupational transition or disjunctive change need to consider whether, in view of the cost of training, and the expected salary they should receive in their new occupation, they will be able to recover costs before retirement (Egerton & Parry, 2001;Boeren et al, 2010;Bender & Heywood, 2011). Therefore the interaction of their age and the actual field they are changing into are factors to be considered in a change decision.…”

“…Instead, they tended to be employed in lower-quality positions. However two mature-age participants with business as a change qualification found employment in graduate programs in the Public Sector, an option suggested by Egerton and Parry (2001) and Purcell et al (2007) as viable for mature-age business graduates.…”

“…However, degree-related employment in humanities and social science occupations (e.g., welfare) is not well remunerated, and mature-age learners with less time to recoup costs may still not find such a change financially worthwhile (Egerton & Parry, 2001). In contrast, an Australian study was more optimistic about recouping the opportunity costs of mature-age change, particularly for females (Colgrave, 2006).…”