Pressure for college places increases

An increase in the number of students scoring in the highest ranks of Leaving Certificate results this week could see points pressure continue.

Slight increases in the points needed for hundreds of college courses are likely on Monday.

Figures from the Central Applications Office — which is finalising around 50,000 offers with colleges this weekend — show that 11,345, or 21% got 450 points or more, before adding the 25 higher level maths bonus points of almost 14,000. This compares to 20.4% last year