ANALYSIS:IMAGINE MAKING a key decision – one which could shape your working life – without knowing all the facts and at a time when your concentration is elsewhere.
That’s exactly what we expect 70,000 students to do as part of the CAO process.
In January – as students prepare nervously for the mock Leaving Cert exams – we ask them to make their CAO application before the February 1st deadline. Teachers will tell you how difficult it can be to get students to focus on their CAO choices at this time.
Who could blame them? The pressure is on to complete the course, to prepare for the mocks, to get ready for the orals and to secure the points in the first instance. College life is still somewhere at the other side of the Leaving Cert mountain.
Students can, of course, fill in the CAO application form in January and use the Change of Mind process in June in the run-up to the July 1st deadline.
But they are still flying blind. They still lack the key information which could best inform their college choice – their exam results.
The current daft system forces students to make college choices without being in possession of all the facts. It suits the universities and the other colleges. But it is grossly unfair to students and their parents.
It does not have to be this way. Modern technology means it would be quite possible for the CAO to amend the application process after the Leaving Cert results are published in mid-August. Students could use the Change of Mind process armed with the information they need – their exam results and their CAO points total.
The Galway-based CAO says such a change would be possible to implement without difficulty. Remarkably, the manner in which it manages entry to college has not changed fundamentally since its establishment in 1977.
The CAO, a private company controlled by the third-level colleges, should have the technology to manage such a change.
It certainly has the resources.
Returns filed to the Companies Office show it had an after-tax surplus of €1.38 million last year and €1.37 million in 2009.
Overall, the company has accumulated net assets of €5.6 million, with €3.6 million of that consisting of cash in the bank.
This year applicants paid either a €40 standard fee or a discounted €30 "early bird" fee when submitting their application. And what do students get for this? The opportunity to opt for a series of courses where they mayfulfil the points requirements.
As a result, many students sleepwalk into courses which may not suit them. The result? Upwards of 30 per cent either fail their first-year exams or drop out during the year in what can be a crushing blow to their self-esteem. To compound the problem, they also face the huge cost of repeating a college year.
The good news is that Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has begun a review of the CAO system. A major conference next month will plot the way forward.
The hope is that the current outdated format will be abandoned. Students and their parents are entitled to make a considered college choice.
