Guidance Counsellor Billy Ryle says Kerry students celebrated getting the courses they wanted in CAO Round One today….

The excellent results achieved last week by Kerry’s 1,713 traditional Leaving Cert candidates saw them sweep the board in CAO Round One of college offers, which were released at 2pm on Wednesday, 28th August.

After a few tense days of expectant waiting, there was joy unconfined when a large majority of Kerry’s CAO applicants received a college offer.

On a pro rata population basis, Kerry’s CAO applicants will be close to the top of the class in securing college places.

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That scenario, of course, depends on students’ ability to finance their education and to secure accommodation against a further increase of 3% to 5% in student expenses.

According to price-comparison site Switcher.ie, the average annual cost of going to college is €15,632, about €536 more than last year.

Dublin, Cork, Maynooth and Tralee had the biggest rise in average college expenses this year. Any student who is forced to defer or refuse a higher education course due to lack of finance and/or accommodation will be absolutely devastated.

A final CAO application figure of 83,543 – 2,362 from Kerry – meant keen competition across many courses. A random selection for entry to some hotly-contested courses left some applicants with the maximum 625 points without their top choice.

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However, the generous supply of college places that are on offer this year has helped to stabilise the points. At Level 8, points have fallen for about 50% of courses, points have slightly increase for about 40% while the remainder remain relatively unchanged.

The new tertiary degree route through Colleges of Further Education is also helping to ease the pressure on CAO points.

While some CAO courses have seen points increase, the generous offer of college places has benefitted the applicants. It’s very evident that the provision of more college places around the country will help to reduce points requirements and to ease the pressure on young people.

While the majority of the 47,326 applicants to the CAO from the 2024 Leaving Cert class, as well as 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 Leaving Cert classes, will have the points to meet the course requirements, it will leave many candidates, who are presenting Leaving Cert results from 2019 or earlier, struggling to secure a college place.

Many of these applicants from the pre-Covid era had little or no chance of competing with this year’s inflated grades.

Minister Norma Foley has committed to reducing this year’s average post-marking adjustment of 7.5% to about 5.5% in 2025 in a gradual return to standard marking.

Grades deflation must be the priority in the immediate future so that colleges places can be allocated on actual exam performance rather than an upward post-marking adjustment.

The 2024 statistics prove that the applicants are very efficient in their engagement with the CAO. 56,571 CAO applicants received at least one of the 83,369 courses on offer on Wednesday afternoon.

The offers consisted of 51,934 at Level 8 and 31,435 at Level7/6. Offers are issued independently in respect of the two lists (Level 8 and Level 7/6), so that some applicants received two offers, one from each list.

The collective good news is that of the 51,934 applicants who were offered a Level 8 course, 29,173 (56%), received their first preference and a very impressive 43,280 (83%) received one of their top three preferences.

Of the 31,435 applicants who were offered a Level 7/6 course, 28,781 (92%) received their first preference and a whopping 31,087 (99%) received one of their top three preferences.

The overriding conclusion from the points’ trends is that CAO applicants are totally focussed on the jobs market.

They applied in large numbers for courses with strong employment growth. UCC’s flagship Biological and Chemical Sciences is offered at 533 points, while its Engineering degree has dropped slightly to 509 points.

Physiotherapy at the University of Limerick came in at 590* points while its new Occupational Therapy degree is offered at 568 points. Primary Teaching at Mary Immaculate College Limerick is down from 497 points to 488 and MTU Tralee’s excellent General Nursing Degree dropped from 371points to 352.

Health Science courses remain very popular putting them beyond the points’ totals of most CAO applicants. Dentistry at UCC, for example, requires a staggering 618 points and Pharmacy is offered at 613*. All points requirements are available on the CAO website, www.cao.ie.

School leavers continue to rush to college in unprecedented numbers. The steady flow also of mature and non-traditional applications is a very healthy development as everybody deserves a second chance.

A quota of places was reserved by CAO for the 7,365 mature applicants and the 12,055 applicants from the Post Leaving Cert (PLC) sector. Congratulations to all applicants who received a CAO college offer.

CHECKLIST

• 60,839 Leaving Cert candidates in total – 56,791 LC Established & 4,048 LC Applied
• 1,840 Leaving Cert candidates in Kerry – 1,713 LC Established & 127 LC Applied
• 83,543 CAO applications in 2024; down slightly down from 84,228 in 2023
• 2,362 CAO applicants from Kerry; a 1.3% decrease on the 2023 figure of 2,394
• Kerry’s CAO applicants did extremely well in Wednesday’s Round One offers
• An applicant was offered the highest course preference to which s/he was entitled
• When an applicant was offered a course preference, s/he was excluded from any course preference LOWER than the one offered.
• In the second or subsequent rounds of offers, an applicant won’t be considered for a preference LOWER than that already offered.
• An applicant who was offered a preference, which is not her/his first preference, may subsequently be offered a HIGHER preference
• It’s not necessary to accept an offer in order to be considered for a HIGHER preference
• An applicant who has accepted an offer is not obliged to accept any subsequent offer
• CAO Round One offers available from 2pm on Wednesday, 28th August
• CAO available place facility opens at noon on Thursday, 29th August
• Accept CAO Round One offer by 3pm, on Tuesday, 3rd September
• Leaving Cert appeals released at 11am on Friday, 27th September
• Many Post-Leaving Cert (PLC) courses still have vacancies
• Tertiary Degree course applications accepted to late September
• Apply now to State Agencies for training courses
• Many schools cater for repeat Leaving Cert students
• Double check all important dates on official correspondence
• The confidential help line free phone number is 1800 265 165
• Congratulations to all applicants who received a CAO college offer

Billy Ryle is a Career Guidance Counsellor and Educational Commentator

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