Round One acceptance cut-off point here
Although the deadline for acceptance of CAO's round one is 5.15pm today, the vast majority of those intending to accept their round one offers have done so by now. Round Two offers will be posted on Thursday and cut-off points will be published in CAO's website by 6am on Friday morning.
Meanwhile, almost 220 courses were advertising some available/vacant places on CAO's list yesterday. That list could get even longer, after the close of Round One. Competition is not evenly distributed among the courses, however, and the vast majority of CAO courses have more than enough qualified applicants to fill them, and do not appear on the available place course list. But there are hundreds of opportunities there.
Forty four colleges participate in the CAO system this year -- there was one newcomer, the Institute of Business and Technology, Swords, Co Dublin. In the past few years, CAO registered about net 38,000 acceptances of places in all colleges by the end of the offer season each year, with 37,796 net acceptances in 2004, 38,175 in 2005, 38,967 in 2006, climbing to 39,915 in 2007.
CAO is not the only show in town, and colleges in the Further Education (PLC/FE) sector are also enrolling at this time. Most FE colleges operate through the Vocational Education Committee system, and their courses lead to awards from FETAC, the Further Education Training and Awards Council. FE/PLC colleges do not operate a central applications system, so applicants must apply directly to each college. Applications opened last spring, so many of the more popular courses will be filled by now, but there is still plenty of capacity.
At this time, the FE sector is often perceived as the alternative system for students if they didn't get the sufficient points in the Leaving or their first choice in the CAO, says Catherine Fox, assistant principal of Cavan Institute of Further Education, one of the largest FE colleges in the country with over 1200 students. But an FE college is often the student's first choice, she says, even if the student has been offered a place in a CAO college. There is no higher education institute in Cavan town or county so the Institute is often the real first preference college of applicants, particularly when it offers such a range of courses. Catherine believes that parents and students aren't fully aware of the fact that many students use their FE courses to get places in universities and institutes of technology.
There are two ways they can do this. A student may do what is called a "linked" course; for example, take an FE Sports or Nursing course and progress to a Level 6 or 7 Sports or a Level 8 Nursing course in a Higher Education Institute (HEI). There are a limited number of places reserved for FE applicants in such courses and they don't compete with Leaving Certificate students for these places. There are also routes from FEs to Universities, for example, Cavan Institute has a link between its Cultural and Heritage course into the B.A. Arts in NUI Maynooth. Ballyfermot College of Further Education offers a similar course, through which it is possible to progress to Arts in UCD.
The other method for FE graduates is to use their FETAC award points instead of their Leaving Certificate points and apply for any Level 6 or Level 7 course in the institutes of technology alongside the Leaving Certificate candidates.
The largest VECs, for example City of Dublin (CDVEC) with 16 different colleges, or City of Cork VEC, (one of whose colleges, Cork College of Commerce, is the largest FE college in the country), Dun Laoghaire, Limerick and Galway VECs offer the greatest range of courses. There are 33 VECs throughout the country, with the full list available on www.ivea.ie.
Most FETAC courses are covered by a free tuition fees scheme, and maintenance grants are available to eligible applicants.
CDVEC operates a free phone for interested applicants until September 10 at 1800 204080
- Mary O'Donnell
