Businessman Mitch Garber wants to pay youth to finish high school

A Canadian business executive believes he has the antidote to Quebec’s notoriously high dropout rates: why not compensate teens for completing their secondary education?

Mitch Garber, the current CEO of Caesars Acquisition Company and Chairman of Cirque du Soleil, posited his idea to the province's Ministry of Education.

He believes that dispensing $1000 to all students who complete their public school education is a “positive approach,” and will encourage students to gear down and earn their diplomas.

Despite some opposition to the idea, Garber expressed that money is a real-life concern for teens – and rewarding them would be incentive enough to continue through their fifth year of high school. The reward, he explains, will be inclusive of all public high school students, regardless of their grades or age.

The private sector is excluded from Garber’s proposal, since the graduation rates are higher than those I the public sector.

In the long run, Garber explains that the bursary’s value pales in comparison to the money and resources lost due to the repercussions of dropping out.

In fact, Quebec’s dropout rate costs the government a whopping $1.9 billion dollars per year in resources—including the costs of social assistance, welfare, and other delinquent behaviours.

Considering that there are some 60,000 students who graduate each year, the implementation of the reward would cost the government approximately $60 million annually—only 0.3 per cent of the Education Ministry’s $18 billion budget.

Quebec students are currently graduating at a rate of 77.7 per cent – a figure that government officials hope to increase to 80 per cent by 2020.

Education Minister Sebastien Proulx, who is aware of Garber’s proposal, plans to look over the proposal sometime during the academic year.

One school in Laval has already felt the positive impacts of Garber’s philanthropy. In commemoration of his wife’s birthday, Garber created the Anne-Marie Boucher bursary—wherein a $5000 scholarship will be awarded to a deserving student at Mont-de-LaSalle High School in Laval, where he attended.

The scholarship will be awarded once annually for the next ten years, totaling $50,000. Nine students of merit will receive an award for meeting goals set during the school year.

As of 2017, Garber’s net worth was over $400 million.

The idea has roots in Denmark, where all Danes over the age of 18 are entitled to state funding for up to six years of post¬-secondary education—thanks to the Statens Uddannelsesstøtte program.

Students who live away from home receive approximately 5,839 Danish krones (almost $1200 CAD) per month to support themselves. According to a report in the Washington Post, these students are not obligated to pay the state back—even if they drop out of college.

Danes between the ages of 18 and 20 are also eligible to receive a monthly stipend to help them finish high school. Students with high grades and other academic aptitude are given more opportunities for funding.

Sweden also pays high school students a monthly amount—about $187-- to encourage graduation.