THERE appears to be much confusion about acceptance procedures for Round Two offers. Mainly, it has to do with deposits. To accept any place offered on any round of offers, the applicant must pay a minimum of a £5 deposit - and you have to trot off to the bank to do this.
No matter that you may have, accepted a place already and paid maybe £180, you still have to lodge £5 as an indication of your good faith each time you accept a new offer.
It's not that people mind the £5 so much, it is just that the whole page full of different deposit rates and explanations are so confusing. The deposit for all RTC courses is just the basic £5, but then in the DIT where you might reasonably expect it to be the same, it's £150. The universities charge £150 - but then when you come to UCD it's £160 and £180 for UCC and UL. But if you are likely to qualify for a grant, all you have to pay in the above cases is £5. No wonder people get boggle eyed.
But when it comes to Round Two it gets more confusing. This is what it says: "If the payment for the new course is higher than the amount which you have already paid, you must now pay the difference between the two amounts if the payment for the new course is the same as or lower than the amount you already paid, you must now pay £5."
It does make sense when you read it carefully, but people do get confused. They start thinking: "I only paid £5 to accept my Round One offer, does this mean I must now pay £175 to accept a UCC offer?" - even though they are genuine grant applicants.
The bottom line is that as it bona fide grant applicant you need not pay any more than £5 no matter what you are accepting on any round. Most people have not yet been notified by their grant authority whether they are eligible or not. If you have a medical card or your family is dependent on social welfare payments, clearly you are. But equally, if you are reasonably sure that the family income comes within the limits, you are pretty safe in just paying the £5.
It does state on the form that applicants may forfeit their place if they "fraudulently" deposit £5 instead of £150 or whatever. We have encountered unfortunate people who undoubtedly were eligible for a grant, but paid the higher rate because this clause scared them off. We can assure applicants that in all its years Points Race has never encountered anyone who had to forfeit their place for such a reason what you simply do if you turned down for a grant is get on to the college and pay the difference between the £5 and the full amount. As long as you pay it before registration, we'd expect you will encounter any problems.
But the bottom line for Round Two offers is that you must pay a minimum of £5 to accept anything.
. POSTING ACCEPTANCE
THE CAO tells us that more people have forgotten to post back their acceptances this year than in any other year, and certainly this column has had more frantic phone calls from applicants and parents in this situation than in other years. And it seems to us that the double procedure of having to go to the bank to pay the deposit first and then separately post the acceptance off to the CAO is what causes the confusion. People are delighted when they get an offer, they rush off to the bank and pay the deposit and then think "great, that's that done", forgetting that you must also post the stamped portion back to the CAO.
Virtually everyone we've spoken to who has failed to return an acceptance had paid, the deposit. So why, we began to wonder, do 32,000 people all have to rush off to bank branches to pay what in most, cases is a mere fiver to accept a college place? Is this monetary aspect really necessary at all?"
Would it not be enough to simply return the acceptance form in the post and pay the college charge, be it £150 or £180, when you turn up to register?
The original idea behind deposits was to ensure that applicants were serious and not just hoarding places. But with virtually all higher education courses in the State within the CAO system, this argument no longer really holds. In any case, does anyone seriously believe that £5 is a deterrent? Indeed, for a lot of people £150 isn't either.
There is something faintly ridiculous about the idea of thousands of people queuing up in banks the length and breath of the country - all to lodge £5 to a college's account.
Applicants do not have to worry about deposits transferring from one course to another. In the case of anyone who accepts a place in Round Two having already accepted something on Round One, the deposit is simply transferred automatically within the CAO to the new college. And if you are offered something else on Round Three and accept, your deposit will again transfer automatically once the acceptance comes in.
As the amounts charged by some colleges are higher than others, it follows that some students may have overpaid by the end of the offers - if you paid £180 for a UL place on Round One and ended up accepting a UCG place on Round Three, technically you should be entitled to a £30 refund from UCG as their deposit is only £150 you should certainly ask for it.
. HIGHER PREFERENCES
ANYTHING which an applicant has already accepted can be held on to. Some callers worry that, having accepted their second preference on Round One, they would be obliged to accept their first preference if it is offered on Round Two or later. This is not so you are perfectly free to remain with what you have already accepted regardless of where it was on your list of choices. Any offer you get which you do not want to accept, you just ignore entirely throw it in the bin and forget about it.
Neither will rejecting an offer have any effect on an applicant's chances of being offered a place on the same or any other course next year. If you decide to reapply through the CAO next year, you will be considered on your merits for all courses according to the points which obtain next year.
. PLC VACANCIES
THE following still have some places available:
Ringsend Technical Institute; (01 6684498/6689591) can still take applications for amenity horticulture; electronic technology; marine technology; engineering technology; security Ballsbridge College of Business; Studies (01 6684653) can still accept applications for business skills; auctioneering, valuation and estate agency; marketing/advertising; delicatessen management; rugby/recreation/ marketing; business linked commercial course.
Central Technical Institute "Waterford (051 74053). Telephone the college if interested in animation studies; art/craft/design; health and fitness (two years); beauty care; health science; business studies (two years); interior design and furnishing; computing; engineering; theatre studies; child care; electronics; accounting.
Sallynoggin Senior College (01 28522997) has a limited number of places available in the following one year foundation course in photography; two year City and Guilds fashion and design course; two year course dance leading to RAD two year NNEB in child two year course in international travel and tourism; two year fitness and leisure and a one year course in community/social care.
. REPEATS
DEFINITELY, the demand is much slower for repeat Leaving Cert places this year; we haven't heard of any college that is full yet. That great pioneer of the repeat year, Ringsend Technical Institute, can still take applications, as can Plunkett College the north side of the city. Most of the other VEC colleges still seem to have places, too, as the main private repeat colleges.
Changed times, indeed. It's probably a reflection of a greater realism among students, increased number of places and the reduced points - for most courses. Or perhaps students are apprehensive that the points will be higher next year with the increased numbers of students sitting the Leaving.