Points set to soar in this year’s Leaving Cert

Yet again, the points for the Leaving Cert are set to rise this year. While most of us can offer an evil laugh at this news (Leaving Cert? Sure that was AGES ago!) spare a thought for the mass amounts of panic-stricken sixth years across the country who are currently weeping into their CAO Handbooks.

The Irish Times reports that the points competition will be extra tough this year with a record number expected to apply for college places.

The notorious CAO has to be filled in by February 1^st, and career experts are expecting a noted increase in points for areas such as science, technology and agriculture – mainly because in the face of a recession, these areas appear to offer better job prospects.

Experts are also hinting that courses such as arts and business, which make up two of the main planks of the CAO system, could also rise. Bad news if your career plan was to coast through secondary school and live it up in 'Orts, darling!' when you got to college - English and Archaeology? Of course I'll use these subjects in real life!

This year over 40,000 students will be applying to the Central Applications Office. Unfortunately for Irish students, this figure doesn’t include a suspected increase in application numbers from British students who are expected to take advantage of lower student fees.

In Britain, colleges can increase fees to £7,000-£9,000 from September. This increase is encouraging British students to study here, where they can avail of an education at a top Irish college, such as Trinity College Dublin, for the average student contribution charge of €2,250.

Several other factors are also expected to cause points to soar this year.

For the first time in the history of the Leaving Cert, this summer will see a new bonus points system come into play for higher level maths. Students who secure a D3 or more in higher level maths will get an extra 25 points added to their results if maths is in their six best subjects.

Another factor which is causing points to rise is the decrease in the amount of Irish students applying to colleges abroad due to more expensive tuition charges.

Finally, this year Leaving Cert students will also have to compete with extra applications from those who have decided to return to study because they are unable to find work or apprenticeships.

Colleges are finding it hard to cope with record amounts of students and less income. The funding crisis that is facing the third-level education sector could even result in a cap on student numbers.

While you  may look back fondly on college and wish for the ‘good old days’ be glad that you’re a proper grown up who only has to worry about employment, money and bills. These things suck, but at least you don’t have the added pressure of mocks and homework on top of you.