Unsold blocks of apartments could be great student residences, says Isabel Morton

HAVING BEEN through all this a couple of times before, you would imagine that I would be well used to it all by now. But once again I am distraught as the youngest of my three babies is preparing to leave home to start university.

The fact that he is 6ft 1in and appears to be well able to look after himself, is quite beside the point. As far as I am concerned, he is my baby, regardless of his size, age, experience or ability.

You never quite imagine that the day will come that the CAO and UCAS forms will become a reality. One minute they are in their school uniform, filling in a form and the next they are packing their bags and heading off to begin their adult lives.

Never having sent any of my children away to boarding school, I am not used to packing my little (and not so little) darlings off with their sports kit, tuck box and a photo of the family. I am one of the hysterical mothers who gave her children mobile phones as soon as they could speak, in the event that that might need to talk to mummy from the school playground, their friend's house or wherever.

My thumb is worn out texting them and I have recently latched on to e-mails and, best of all, Skype. Bliss oh bliss, I can actually see my eldest son as he chats to me sitting in front of his laptop computer in New York.

Gone are the terrible days when I used to write tortured letters (with appalling spelling mistakes) each week to my parents and family from Brussels. We spoke on the phone once during my year away - on Christmas day. I cried through most of the "extremely expensive" telephone call because my Belgian family had served rabbit stew for Christmas dinner. I am not entirely sure if I was crying for the poor rabbit or because I hadn't been served turkey and ham.

Having been away from home at a relatively young age, I know what it is like to feel that extraordinary combination of the misery of feeling homesick and the elation of feeling so grown up and independent.

So, like the rest of the 245,000 mothers of Irish students, I am filling in forms, making phone calls, checking newspaper adverts and going cross-eyed looking through internet sites.

I am hoping my son will be one of the lucky ones who will get one of the few places on campus. If not, the search will begin in earnest to find him alternative accommodation, ideally sharing with other students.

Another option is to find them digs or lodgings - two good old-fashioned terms which immediately bring to mind battle axe landladies, 10pm curfews and strict rules regarding visitors of the opposite sex. Needless to say, that suggestion went down like a lead balloon with my 18-year-old.

Over the last decade, wealthy Irish parents have been successfully killing two birds with one stone, by investing in a property in which their child can live and share with their rent-paying friends.

In the old days of good capital appreciation, these investments made sense. Parents benefited from not having to pay rent for their own child, received rent from other people's children and were relieved of the annual stress of having to find suitable accommodation yet again.

It is not unusual to find some students living in absolute luxury - I hear that many of the residents who have moved into posh Shrewsbury Square in Ballsbridge (where Gaybo lives) - are college-going sons and daughters of the very well heeled. Comfortable, no doubt, but perhaps not the ideal student gaff, given that the neighbouring Dublin 4 downsizers may not be too tolerant of wild student parties.

Children do not always appreciate their parent's efforts made on their behalf. My eldest son, who attended university in London, had one Middle Eastern student friend who lived on his own (excluding the three members of staff) in one of his parent's numerous properties, a vast house in Knightsbridge. Far from having extravagant parties, he found it all very embarrassing and avoided asking friends to his house.

Given that France and Germany provide on-campus or other university accommodation for 24 per cent of their student population, and we only have space for around 9 per cent of ours, perhaps the Government should assist third-level institutions in buying up some of the current glut of unsold apartment blocks and turning them into student halls of residence. At least they could be guaranteed an annual rental income from 35,700 students in the Dublin area alone. In the meanwhile, parents could save money by encouraging their children to study in areas where rent is cheaper, such as Limerick where the average monthly rent for a double room is €309 by comparison with a similar room in Dublin at €649.

And I'll just get on with crying into my tissue as I write out instructions on how to cook a nourishing "one pot" meal, pack his favourite teddy, a first aid box, warm jumpers and a framed photograph of the entire family, including the dog, whilst trying to ignore the withering look I am being given by my teenage son who can hardly wait to fly the nest.