My son is worried about getting into college. Can he avail of reduced CAO points?

My son is sitting the Leaving Cert in June. He has struggled academically over the years but was only recently diagnosed with learning difficulties. His guidance counsellors suggested applying to college under the “Dare” scheme on reduced points. How does this work, exactly, and are we too late to apply?

There are two main access routes where it is possible to gain entry to higher education courses on reduced CAO points: these are the Higher Education Access Route (Hear), for applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds, and the Disability Access Route to Education (Dare), for those with learning difficulties or disabilities. They are popular: some 10,255 people applied under Dare last year, and 8,267 under Hear.

Full details of how the schemes operate can be found in pages 21-23 of the CAO Handbook (cao.ie).

Dare is designed for students whose disabilities have had a negative impact on their second-level education. The applicant and their school complete an “educational impact statement”, which details how their disability has impacted their education, along with evidence of the disability.

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Hear is aimed at boosting the number of students whose socio-economic background means they are underrepresented in higher education. There are six criteria used: income, medical cards, means-tested social welfare payments, socio-economic group, school, and home address. You don’t need to match all six – there are different combinations for eligibility.

While the criteria for eligibility for the routes are different, they both operate in a similar way.

Each participating college and university has a reserved number of places to offer eligible Hear/Dare applicants at lower Leaving Cert points. For such applicants requiring a reduced points offer, offers are made based on a sliding scale, of those closest to the CAO points cut-off to those furthest away from it for their chosen course.

The reduction in points can vary every year. It differs college by college and is dependent on several factors: the overall number of places on the course, the number of reserved places under the schemes and the number of eligible applicants competing for them.

Your son has until 5pm on March 1st next to fully and correctly complete all elements of the Dare/Hear forms on his CAO application.

Once completed, a checklist will appear on-screen telling him which documents he needs to supply. He must disclose his disability in his CAO application and fully and correctly complete section A of the supplementary information form.

He must then post all supporting documents to arrive at the CAO no later than 5pm on March 15th next.

He must submit A4 photocopies of his supporting documents. Do not send originals. Colleges may require him to supply the original documents later and any offers made are subject to this condition.

It can take time to assemble all the relevant documents, so don’t delay.

For more information, visit accesscollege.ie