If you're going to college this year, the chances are that you're going to be on your own for the first time in your life. Living without your normal day to day family supports and your friends may sound daunting, but the good news is that help is at hand. All you have to do is seek it out.

Getting involved in the students' union - and, of course, clubs and societies - is the ideal way to settle into college life and make friends, advises Barry Brophy, vice president of TCD's students union. "College can be a pretty frightening place for a fresher," he says. "Getting involved in the union, for example, is a great way to make friends. Becoming a class rep is a fantastic and invaluable experience. You really learn a lot about the way college works." And it's good on your CV.

Dermot Lohan, president of USI, describes the students' union as a surrogate family for students living away from home. In most colleges the union offers a wide range of services and in many cases picks up the slack when college authorities fail to offer necessary services.

Often, the union is the main organiser of social life and most unions have an ents (entertainments) officer. They go to considerable lengths to organise concerts, gigs, outings and other events throughout the year. Fresher programmes, which are designed to ensure that students get the opportunity to meet each other, are in many instances also organised by the union.

You'd be wise to check out the services offered by your students' union at an early stage. Services vary from college to college and are largely dependent on income. Unions are funded to differing amounts by grants from the student levy, which this year amounts to £260. Once you register as a full-time student, you automatically become a member of the union.

Students' unions argue, with some justification, that they could offer even better services if they were allotted a greater portion of the student levy. Nonetheless, over the years they have evolved into highly sophisticated operations. Many now boast a range of full-time personnel, including officers looking after accommodation, welfare, education, entertainment and even equality.

In many colleges, though, it's the student welfare officer who is the busiest of all the full-time sabbatical officials. This officer can be called on to help with a whole range of problems from loneliness and financial difficulties to worries about sexuality and crisis pregnancies. Obviously welfare officers have no training in these areas but they will refer a student to the appropriate professional where necessary.

Increasing numbers of students are coming to college from broken homes and dysfunctional families, unions say. Such domestic problems can increase the pressures on students and affect academic progress. In these instances students would be wise to avail of the services on offer to them.

"We encourage people to come to us with their problems," says Brendan Kiely, students' union president of Athlone IT. "We can point them to someone they can turn to. We work as a referral centre and we offer an ear to listen. We target people into areas where they can get help."

However, people's problems aren't all serious. Last year one student asked Kiely how to use the bank machine.

Although many larger third-level institutions provide medical and counselling staff, non-medical card holders in smaller colleges may find that they have to attend privately. It's worth checking whether your students' union has special reduced-fee arrangements with local doctors and dentists.

A number of unions provide accommodation services. They can help sort out problems with landlords and in some instances even find you suitable accommodation. If you're renting a flat or house you'd be wise to get your hands on a copy of the student guidelines on renting from your local student union.

At school you may have endured poor quality teaching or other difficulties for years without complaint. The good news about third-level is that if you find you have problems - maybe a lecturer is inaudible or he or she goes too fast - you can bring the matter to the attention of your union.

Some TCD lecturers have hit on a great arrangement. They now tape their lectures so that students who fail to keep pace during lectures can catch up in their own time.

The union can act successfully as a mediator between college authorities and students.

A major benefit of the student union is the fact that union reps sit on every college committee and can keep their fingers on the college pulse. "Whenever the college makes a decision that affects students, the student reps are there," says TCD's Barry Brophy. "They sit on the college board and on all committees and represent students' interests."

Most unions can save you a fortune on photocopying, typing and faxing costs since they offer reduced-rate services. Many unions, too, run their own bars, cafes, shops and newspapers. In many colleges, it's the union rather than the college authorities which provide common room space.

Unions don't promise to do everything for you, but there's no doubt that many of them do offer an amazing range of services. The advice from the unions is - if you need help let them know.

"Don't allow problems to build up," warns Brophy. "Nip them in the bud. By neglecting a problem it can quickly build up into something insurmountable."