Debates about the “graduate premium” must extend beyond earnings alone, according to a leading charity, after its research found that degree-holders tend to have better well-being than people who did not go to university.
Analysis published on 13 May by the Sutton Trust found that 27.5 per cent of UK graduates who participated in a major survey reported high well-being, compared with 24.7 per cent of non-graduates. Some 16.1 per cent of people who did not go to university reported having low well-being, compared with 12.8 per cent of degree-holders, according to data from more than 15,000 respondents to the 2021-22 round of the UK Household Longitudinal Study.
The Sutton Trust acknowledges that education is closely linked to socio-economic background and status, but adds that the positive impact of completing a degree holds true across the four main social mobility “trajectories” it examines in its report.
“Our results show a clear association between higher well-being and having a degree, regardless of the socio-economic returns. Even for those graduates who may not have got a professional job…a degree still translates to a boost in well-being,” says the report.
The report’s broader findings were that, although people from professional households who maintain this status throughout their lives are 33 per cent more likely to experience high well-being compared with those who remain in routine occupations, upward social mobility could close most of this gap. Downward mobility has a negative impact on well-being, but these individuals appear to be protected from some of the negative aspects of lower socio-economic status on well-being.
