CAO 2020: Hear and Dare schemes to help with college access

In the months ahead, there are two schemes specifically designed to help broaden access to third-level for students who have a disability, or who are from a disadvantaged background.

However, students and families should double-check their eligibility on such schemes and work with their school to arrange all the necessary paperwork required for the application process.

Set up to tackle educational disadvantage, the Higher Education Access Route (Hear) is a third level alternative admissions scheme open to students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Likewise, the Disability Access Route to Education (Dare) is a similar alternative admissions scheme open to students with a disability. Both schemes are operated at the majority of universities, institutes of technology, and teacher education colleges.

To apply for both schemes, the students must live in the Republic of Ireland and must be under the age of 23 as of January 1 this year.

Operating on a ‘reduced points’ basis, students who qualify for Hear, Dare, or both schemes in some cases, may be offered a course even if their total Leaving Cert score is lower than the general admissions cut-off.

This means that students may be offered a place even if they do not have enough points for their preferred course.

This is to take into account the evidence that shows students who are disadvantaged socio-economically — or those who have a disability — face greater obstacles when it comes to progressing on to higher education.

As research shows that students with disabilities from disadvantaged backgrounds face a “double disadvantage”, students who qualify for both Hear and Dare are prioritised by colleges when it comes to allocating reduced points places.

However, it’s important to note that many students who qualify for the schemes are offered a place without this benefit as their points exceed the cut-off threshold.

Another benefit of both schemes is that students are offered extra support and assistance by their college throughout the academic year, should they qualify. These include individual meetings with student advisors and help with study skills.

It’s also important to note that students with a disability do not have to be eligible for Dare to get support in college.

All students with a verified disability, regardless of whether they come through Dare or not, can avail of a variety of different supports while studying at third level.

In order to qualify for the Hear scheme, students must meet a range of financial, social, and cultural indicators.

In order to qualify for the scheme, the student must come from a family whose income is less than €45,790. This income threshold is higher for families of more than three children, or if there are two or more family members already at college.

At the same time, two other ‘indicators’ must also be met in order for a student to qualify for Hear, including medical card status, social-welfare payments, socio-economic group, disadvantaged status of school or local area and the occupation status of a parent or guardian.

Hear-supported students may also be prioritised by their colleges for any additional financial support but should apply separately to Student Universal Support Ireland (Susi) for Government-funded maintenance grants.

There is a separate range of criteria that a student must meet in order to qualify for Dare support.

This is assessed through an educational impact statement completed together with a student’s school.

This statement allows a student and their school to provide details of how a student’s disability has impacted on their second level experience.

A combination of two of the six criteria must be met, including any additional supports or interventions already provided at schools or in exams, an impact on attendance, exam results, or the ability to take part in extracurricular activities.

Students thinking about applying for support through the Hear or Dare scheme first must register their general CAO application by February 1.

Full applications must be completed by March 1. Students will then have another month to submit any of the necessary paperwork and supporting documents, due by April 1.

Upcoming information days about HEAR and DARE supports are planned at participating institutes nationwide.

More details about the schemes and their requirements can be found on:

www.accesscollege.ie