While ATARs alone are not the sole contributing factor to a student’s future financial success, new research suggests a strong correlation.
A study conducted by the e61 Institute found that, at age 30, those with Australian Tertiary Admissions Ranks (ATARs) over 98 earn a median salary of $33,000 higher than those with ATARs below 70 – and significantly more than those who did not go to university.
Using new taxation data, the What’s in an ATAR? How Can University Admission Scores Predict Future Income? report looked at the relationship between university admission rates and long-term future earning outcomes.
Research manager at the e61 Institute, Dr Silvia Griselda, says while ATARs are what universities look at when admitting students into degrees, there isn’t a lot of data on how the ranking reflects on future earnings.
“To answer this question, we compared the earnings of individuals with varying ATARs who enrolled in university, those who never enrolled, and those who took an alternate pathway,” she says.
“Having a higher ATAR is highly predictive of earnings by age 30. Individuals with higher ATAR are more likely to earn higher income.”
All things not equal when it comes to high ATARs and earning capacity
But even if a higher ATAR translate into higher median earnings, the findings reveal there is a significant variation in earnings among people with similar ATAR.
Nonetheless, Dr Griselda concluded that a university degree was usually the most robust option in the long run.
“There are apparent trade-offs between attending university and joining the labour force early, with initial earnings being higher for non-university attendees,” she told EducationDaily.
“However, after age 25, those without a degree earn significantly less than their university-educated counterparts.”
The study found that, for 30-year-old workers without university degrees, while approximately one in ten earn over $115,000 and one in four earn more than $80,000, 50 per cent earn less than $60,000 annually.
This is well below the findings for those with degrees.
But Dr Griselda says, while an ATAR is a leg-up, there are many ways into university and ensuring a lucrative future income.
“Our data and research show that having a strong performing ATAR does not eliminate you from having strong financial outcomes in the future,” she told EducationDaily.
“Instead, it is just one pathway to accessing higher education. There are ways to access a university without an ATAR, and there are pathways and factors that contribute to someone’s long-term earnings. An individual’s ability, intelligence, potential, creativity or passion cannot be simplified to one number.”
