NO course fees are charged for PLC courses but the lack of maintenance grants for PLC students is an issue of major concern. Rory O'Sullivan, vice principal of Balls bridge College of Business Studies, Dublin, says that the City of Dublin VEC provides more than 300 PLC courses and that many students come from outside the commuting area.

"The majority of students on PLCs are working at weekends and evenings to put themselves through college. In some cases, they're working late in bars and restaurants and then have to attend early morning classes. These people need to earn a living to survive but, at the same time, it is affecting their studies,"he says.

Jerome Morrisey, principal of Ballyfermot Senior College, Dublin, says that maintenance grants are absolutely essential. "The PLC courses fit better than many other courses into the ESF criteria for vocational education and train in.... PLC students are being seriously discriminated against," he says.

There are up to 600 students in the College of Commerce, Cork, staying in digs and apartments in Cork city, according to college principal, Gerard O'Dwyer.

He says that there is no doubt that there are some students who are unable even to finance a one year PLC. He would like to see some kind of special funding available for deserving students, as an interim measure.

The alternative is to allow them to draw the dole and join the list of the unemployed, he says. In the long term, he would like to see maintenance grants extended to PLC students. "They are 18 or 19 year olds with the same needs and aims as other students."