School-leavers facing tougher competition for college places

SCHOOL-LEAVERS are fighting it out for college places with a record number of older students and people returning to education this year.

Latest statistics from the Central Applications Office (CAO), which will oversee the allocation of more than 45,000 third-level places in the coming weeks, show that 58% of this year’s applicants sat the Leaving Certificate in June.

This compares with 60% of last year’s applicants who had just finished school in Ireland. The actual number of 2010 school-leavers applying for college places – 45,485 – is up less than 2% on last year.