The college offers season is drawing to a close with the second-round offers being posted today. There are still vacancies on 14 degrees and 44 certificate/diploma courses. These vacancies are open to everyone, regardless of whether they have applied to the CAO or not.
A third round of CAO offers will be made later this month but this is largely a tidying-up procedure. The cut-off points for the third round will be published on Wednesday September 16th in The Irish Times in a special Higher Options supplement.
Meanwhile, the mechanics of the CAO system still seem to baffle many applicants. And once again, it was the mothers of Ireland who got to grips with the details of offers, acceptances, vacancies, preferences, deferrals and other technicalities. And it is they who were responsible for the success of most students' applications.
It's almost time for them to hang up their phones, throw away the college literature and retire for another season.
First-preference candidates
Here's the scenario. The helpline rings. A mother says her son has been offered his first preference. The obvious response is "Congratulations . . . that's great news".
Unfortunately, the reason these distraught mothers are ringing is because their son or daughter has now changed his or her mind and wants something else. As we all know at this stage, if you are offered your first preference you will not be offered anything else from that list. The certificate and diploma lists operate independently of each other but, invariably, these students are talking about the degree list.
So, what are your options? One ingenious caller wanted to ask for a recheck in the hope of a downgrade and subsequent lower offer. The choices facing you are to accept the offer and try to recall why you put it at the top of your list in January or to wait and reapply to the CAO next year, putting your real first preference at the top of the list this time. Other choices include a year on a Post-Leaving Certificate course or looking at what's left in the British clearing system.
The real question is why students put a particular course at the top of their list and then decide, later on, that they don't want it. The CAO accepts change-of-mind forms until July 1st, when the Leaving Certificate is over. The first round of offers is made in mid-August. What happened in the intervening period? For most students, the answer seems to be that they selected courses in the order of last year's points rather than in their real order of preference. Guidance counsellors continually advise students that they don't know how they will perform in the Leaving Certificate and that they should not use last year's points as a guide, particularly when it comes to their choice.
Research, research, research . . .
Perhaps the important lesson to be learned from three weeks of answering readers' queries is that students are not putting in the research before they fill out their CAO forms. We have had queries about essential subject requirements, questions about what courses involve, and angst-ridden calls from moidered mothers whose offspring are disporting themselves in Ibiza's nightclubs.
Mr Vivian Cassells, guidance counsellor, pleads with students to research the options available from Post-Leaving Certificate courses to degrees. Find out about minimum requirements and go to college open days and the annual Higher Options conference where the colleges all have stands. Get your own copy of the prospectus and know what you will be studying . . . before you receive an offer of a course which is known to you only by its title and course code.
Plan the summer after the Leaving Certificate. If you are one of the lucky students who will be jetting off to the sun, try and make sure your return flight will deposit you in Ireland for the college offers season. Deal with your college application yourself - after all, it is your life.
Glitches in the system
The asynchronous operation of the grants and the college applications systems continues to cause headache and hardship for students and their parents. The closing date for college applications, through the CAO, is February 1st with late applications accepted until May 1st. The closing date for grant applications was July 17th. Grant applications (with the rare exception) are not processed by the time students receive an offer of a college place. So, confusion reigns as students grapple with the fees schedule they received with their CAO offer notice. If you are eligible for a grant you do not have to pay the student services fee for State-funded colleges (£260 in most colleges this year).
The problem is that students don't know if they are eligible for a grant. Students and parents are worried that if they don't pay the fee they will lose the place. One worried mother rang to say she had borrowed £260 although she was fairly sure her son would get a grant. She was terrified of her son losing a place, despite reassurances that she could pay the "nil" amount as he had applied for a grant. If he did not get a grant, the college would bill him at registration.
Each year, as offers are accepted and college begins, students wonder when they will receive the first instalment of their grant. Usually, it is later than they had hoped for.
The whole cumbersome process is in radical need of an overhaul.
CAO vacancies
There are now 14 degree courses and 44 certificate/diploma courses with vacancies. Applicants must fulfill the minimum entry requirements for each course. Degrees: Athlone IT: polymer engineering. American College: (fee-paying): international business. LSB College: (fee-paying): anthropology; arts (general); arts (psychology); psychoanalytic studies; business; tourism. Carlow IT: computer networking. UCD: arts (modular) and arts (single subject) (both courses are fee-paying). DIT: music performance (closing date September 11th) TCD: information and communications technology; business studies and Chinese. Certificates/diplomas: Athlone IT: business studies (Cavan campus); office information systems (Cavan campus); office information systems (Greendale campus); mineral engineering; professional accountancy; accounting technician. Portobello College: (fee-paying): computing. LSB College: (fee-paying): business studies; computing/information technology; business studies (office information systems). Carlow IT: (Kilkenny campus): business studies; office information systems. Carlow IT: (Wexford campus): business studies; office information systems. Dundalk IT: electronics (product development); civil engineering; construction studies; manufacturing engineering; mechanical engineering; biology; food science; chemistry; environmental science; applied cultural studies (French); applied cultural studies (German). Dun Laoghaire College of Art, Design and Technology: computing (multimedia); business studies. DIT: industrial electronic systems; music teaching; speech and drama studies; music foundation (closing date for DIT courses is September 11th). Music foundation is a fee-paying course. Letterkenny IT: accounting technician; corais eolais oifige; European languages and business; civil engineering; electronics; mechanical engineering. NCI: computing. Sligo IT: civil engineering; mechanical engineering; electronic engineering; science; analytical chemistry. Waterford IT: chartered accountancy (employment contract needed).
The National Training and Development Institute
The NTDI offers education and training to more than 2,000 people with disabilities each year. There are no formal entry requirements and no fees are charged. Applicants must be over 16 years of age and eligible for funding by the European Social Fund and approved by the National Rehabilitation Board. Mr Frank Sweeney, marketing director with NTDI, points out "at this time of year when so many of their former school peers are looking forward to new and exciting educational and career opportunities, young people with physical and psychological disabilities, and their parents, are left wondering about their future". Students interested in opportunities available through NTDI can contact Mr Sweeney at Roslyn Park, Beach House, Sandymount, Dublin 4.
End of the helpline
The second round cut-off points will be published tomorrow and the College Places helpline will be open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. This is the last day on which this service will operate.
No further telephone queries will be answered after 1 p.m. tomorrow. Please address any queries in writing to Questions and Answers, c/o Education and Living, The Irish Times, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2. Queries will be answered through the Q&A column in Education and Living.
Second round supplement
The supplement appears tomorrow with the second-round cut-off points, analysis, advice on accommodation and the options in Britain and Northern Ireland.