Q I hope to take up a college place in the UK this autumn. In last week's column you referred to the possibility of maintenance grants being extended to students studying abroad, but I saw nothing about it in the Budget. Is it likely to happen? Co Mayo student

A No, there was no reference in the Budget at The Department of Education tells me that a committees looking into the whole area of grants and whether they should be extended to students' on courses outside of Ireland or in private colleges, for example. The original statement from the Minister last year had said that fees to private colleges would be made tax deductible from this year.

Now I see that the private colleges are lobbying for the "free fees" scheme to be extended to them. But the only way that could be done is by the State grant aiding the colleges and surely this goes against the whole idea of private education?

In the meantime, the Northern Ireland Department of Education has withdrawn grants from Northern students who attend private colleges here in the Republic this may be used as a precedent by the Minister here.

As things stand, the matter of your getting a grant to go to a UK college next September is still in the balance, I'm afraid.

Q Like a growing number of Irish parents we have `the' been working abroad over past few years and as a result our children are exempted from the Irish in the Leaving Cert. Will they be at any disadvantage in applying for any third level colleges or in terms of jobs? ex pat parent

A It's no problem with Trinity, the University of Limerick, Dublin City University, the Dublin Institute of Technology or any of the 11 RTCs. The colleges of the National University of Ireland require Irish as a matriculation subject from students resident in Ireland but they too give exemptions to students whose families have been resident abroad, so you should have no problem there just remember that you do have to apply to the NUI for formal exemption.

Irish is a requirement for entry into all the teacher training colleges and there is no exemption here. To qualify as a solicitor or a barrister you must undergo an Irish language test. This does not mean that you need Irish to study law or to get into either the professional law schools, merely that you must do the test before you qualify. I gather that the solicitor's one is more difficult that the test for barristers, but it should not be an insuperable barrier foreigners have been known to pass it.

You don't need Irish to get into the diplomatic or civil service, but it can be an advantage. You do need Irish to train as a Garda.

So, on the whole I don't think that your children are going to be in any way seriously disadvantaged unless they wish to become teachers. Even there, for secondary teaching it is possible to do a degree and follow it with the teaching qualification, the Higher Diploma in Education an Irish test forms part of this, but with some coaching your children should be able to cope with this.

Q I heard there was a second degree in marketing coming on stream in the

DIT this year, but I could only see one in the CAO handbook. Can you tell me anything about a second one? Dublin student

A Yes, in addition to the DlT's existing marketing degree at its Mountjoy Square campus (FT541 MKT), its administration and marketing diploma ((DT508 ADM) which is actually on the cert/diploma list of the CAO handbook, has been upgraded to a degree course.

This came too late for a change in the CAO's handbook you simply apply for the DT508 diploma and this gives you the opportunity of going right through four years to qualify with a degree.

If you have already applied for the diploma, there is no problem, you are in there already in the running for the new degree if you have not and you now want to apply for the degree, simply wait until the CAO sends you your change of mind slip in May, then enter the DT508 course in the cert/diploma list. It's important not to put it on the degree list.

Q You recently referred to GCE and GcSE exam results from Northern Ireland in relation to CAO entry. But surely only the GCE results are taken into account. Could you clarify this? Co Down teacher

A No, I'm afraid you are not correct. GCE or A Levels are the only results counted for points, so in competing for a place on points it is only a student's GCE results which count. However, as students in the GCE system take only three subjects and the courses in CAO colleges usually require a minimum of five to six subjects, the GCSE (or O Levels as they used to be) can be counted to meet specific subject requirements.

Thus, for example, if you need maths for matriculation in Trinity or a second languages in the NUI and do not have these subjects in your GCE, then they will accept GCSE instead though they will not count it for points, where a maximum of three A levels are counted.

So it is important that Northern applicants cite their GCSE results on the application form.

You suggest elsewhere in your letter that students from Protestant and state schools in the North are exempted from Irish for NUI entry. In fact, it would be unthinkable for the UI or any other college to make any distinction between Protestant and Catholic schools or even enquire as to what denomination a school is. All Northern Ireland applicants are exempted from the NUI Irish requirement because they have been educated outside the Republic.

There is one odd anomaly here. Students who do study Irish in schools in the North and there are some Protestant schools which teach it too are allowed to present Irish to meet the third language requirement for NUI matriculation. Thus, though studying Irish, they are excused from having to meet the Irish language requirement which all students in the Republic have to meet then they are allowed to substitute Irish for, say French or German

This seems quite daft to me and understandably annoys a lot of students in the South who have to have English, Irish and a third language to get into, say UCD, while some of their counterparts in the North can get with just English and Irish. It's fair enough to exempt people from the Irish requirement on the grounds of living outside the State and therefore possibly experiencing some difficulty in studying it but to then allow those who do have Irish to substitute it for the third language requirement seems like having it every which way.

Q We are being asked to decide over the next few weeks whether our son should do the Transition Year next year or advance to the Leaving Cert programme. Can you offer any advice? Cork parents

A I would be inclined to let him do the Transition Year. I think it can be a very maturing year and it gives the students the chance to do things which they never get time for in the exam dominated curriculum of both the Junior and Leaving Certs.

I know a lot of parents worry that students will get out of the study habit during Transition Year. But a good Transition Year should have them bustling around doing all sorts of things and the fact that they are doing practical things rather than more academic homework does not mean they are not learning.

I think there is a natural tendency for kids to heave a sigh of relief after the Junior Cert and treat the following year as a "doss" year. In Transition Year this is channelled into more productive pursuits and they get it out of their system before settling down to two years' preparation for the Leaving.