Applicants decline half of CAO second-round offers

ABOUT half of the 3,000 people offered a college place by the Central Applications Office (CAO) last Friday have declined to accept them.

Although final figures were unavailable last night, the CAO reported that 1,342 applicants had accepted second-round offers up to lunchtime yesterday.

Although postal acceptances might not yet have been logged at that stage, the numbers suggest that many people were satisfied with a course offer received earlier, even though it might have been farther down their list of preferences.