CAO reverses decision not to answer phone queries on third-level places

The Central Applications Office has reversed its decision not to answer phone queries from students applying for third-level places. However, the office has warned that because of limited staff resources, phone callers are unlikely to get through to its Galway headquarters.

The office had planned to leave an answering-machine message directing callers to make their queries in writing. It will now leave phone lines open to calls, but a spokesman has warned that because of other demands on its staff at this time of year and the volume of inquiries that would be made, callers would probably find the lines were continuously engaged. A spokesman said yesterday 90 per cent of the telephone queries which the CAO received could be answered by referring to its handbook, which is sent to every student who expresses an interest in applying for a college place.

Labour's spokesman on education, Mr Michael D. Higgins TD, said the refusal of the office to operate an inquiry line was "outrageous and unacceptable".

He said the office displayed an attitude to college applicants that gave the public service a bad name.

"The CAO should see itself as a body which facilitates students undergoing one of the most important transitions in their educational life."

More students were considering college as an option, and others returning to education after a long absence, Mr Higgins said. With that in mind, the CAO and third-level institutions "should examine how they assist students rather than handing down doses of authoritarianism in a system which already suffers from a lack of transparency and democracy".

A spokesman for the CAO said yesterday that he would recommend that students write rather than phone the office as "the extreme difficulty" they would experience in getting through would only cause them anxiety.

The office's experience of running the service over 20 years was that only a very small number of applicants had difficulties not covered by the handbook. Receiving queries by post allowed the office to identify serious problems and deal with them quickly.

He said he could understand applicants' desire for "instant gratification" of their queries by phone, but An Post had proved itself to be up to the task of dealing with applications and queries every year.

Only nine people worked in the office, he said, but even if the office had "the resources of the US State Department" it would be difficult for staff to deal with telephone queries from even half the 60,000 college applicants.

Students who get course offers in the post on Tuesday, August 24th, will also be posted a special form on which they can outline queries to the office. The form will be accompanied by a list of 14 frequently asked questions which cover most of the queries answered by the board in recent years.

The Irish Times will run a phoneline, staffed by experienced guidance counsellors, from the day the Leaving Cert results arrive at students' homes. The counsellors will be contactable at (01) 679-1918 and (01) 679-1919 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. starting next Wednesday until the end of the college offers season. The newspaper will also publish the "Going to College" supplement on August 18th, and Anne Byrne's "College Places" column will begin the same day.

A supplement outlining the CAO cut-off points will be published on Tuesday, August 24th. The cut-off points will also be available on The Irish Times website: www.ireland.com