By Niamh Dwyer, Chairperson of the Kerry Branch of Guidance CounsellorsThe CAO Exceptional Late Deadline for undergraduate students who want to apply to change course is this coming Thursday (July 22) at 5.15pm.

This applies only to applicants who are registered as an undergraduate student on May 1, 2021 in any year in any one of the participating Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), with some exclusions. It does not apply to students who dropped out of their course before May 1. You will be required to supply the CAO with evidence to verify that you were registered as an undergraduate student on May 1. You may submit a late application only for entry to courses other than your existing course. If you wish to repeat the year in the same course, you must arrange this within your HEI. Mary Immaculate College Limerick, Marino Institute of Education, Trinity College Dublin, University of Limerick, Maynooth University and Galway Mayo Institute of Technology have special procedures in place in the case of current or previous students who wish to apply for entry to another course in the same HEI. Such applicants must contact their Admissions Office to check the application procedure. However, if you are a student in another HEI and you wish to apply to any of these six HEIs, you should apply through CAO. Also, if you did not enter your current course through the CAO system, you must first contact the Admissions Office of the HEI to which you wish to apply, and they will inform you if you may submit an application direct to the institution.
 

EXCEPTIONAL LATE APPLICATION

To make an Exceptional Late Application by the July 22 deadline, you will need to log on to www.cao.ie, click on Apply, and follow the instructions. Please note that the directions are different to how you would have applied to CAO when originally applying. You will be required to download a ‘Course Choice Form’ which you complete with your course choices listed in genuine order of preference. You will need to get an email from the HEI you have been attending so make sure you allow plenty of time to get this as it needs to be printed and posted to CAO along with the ‘Course Choice Form’ to arrive in CAO no later than July 22 at 5.15pm. CAO will email a Statement of Application Record to you after the closing date, once your application has been recorded. If you have not received this statement by August 6, please contact CAO immediately.

FEES AND FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

There are financial implications when you change course as you are likely to be liable to pay full tuition fees for at least one year of the new course. If you have been in receipt of the SUSI grant or other funding, that is also likely to be effected, so the best thing to do is to contact the Fees Office in the HEIs that you are applying for. By checking how much you will be liable to pay you will be able to plan your finances more effectively and this may influence your decisions about living arrangements for the upcoming year.

Niamh Dwyer is a Guidance Counsellor in Scoil Phobail Sliabh Luachra, Rathmore, and Chairperson of the Kerry Branch of Guidance Counsellors. She is also a Career Consultant - For details see www.mycareerplan.ie or follow @mycareerplan on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.