Time was when running a private third-level college in Ireland looked like a licence to print money. Talk to people working in the field of education and, even today, they'll tell you that this or that person has become a millionaire thanks to ownership of a private college. All you needed to do was obtain a premises, engage lecturers on a largely part-time basis and offer courses validated by British universities. It sounds easy, but the reality may be less enticing than you think.

Education for profit is big business in many countries - notably in the Middle East - where governments are unable to provide the funding or places required in third-level education. In the situation which has existed in Ireland over the last 20 years or more, there has been a flowering of private third-level colleges providing the places students needed when existing colleges could not cope.

Although pressure on college places is now easing, for demographic reasons and also because of the many other options now available for entering third-level courses, private colleges still provide an important option for many students and their parents.

Unlike publicly funded colleges, private third-level colleges still charge fees - the average cost of a degree course is in the region of £2,000 to £3,000. However, their last filed accounts indicate that they do not seem to be the money-spinners such colleges are in other countries.

It is estimated that some 3,000 students are taking courses in the five private colleges in Dublin which offer third-level courses. These colleges now are part of the CAO (Central Applications Office) system for the intake of students. The colleges had hoped that their presence in the CAO system would result in increased applications. However, last August, after the first round CAO offers had been made, a number of colleges advertised vacant places on their courses. Of the 27 degree programmes with vacant places, 22 were in the private sector. Both the American College and Portobello had places on five courses, the Dublin Business School had vacancies on three courses, Griffith College had failed to fill two courses and the LSB was left with places on seven programmes.

The American College Dublin was set up in 1993 by Florida-based Lynn University. This college, it would seem, is faring the worst financially. ACD appears to have had accumulated losses in 1998 of over £2 million. Between 1997 and 1998 alone it totted up losses of almost £600,000.

This trend was also reflected in the accounts for the previous year when losses of over £380,000 were recorded. More than £250,000, which is termed "unearned tuition fees", was owed during the year ending August 1998. The college explained that this represents fees paid by students, especially Chinese students, who must pay the college in advance in order to get visas for entry into Ireland. Advances from Lynn University, the parent company, came to more than £2 million last year.

A statement in the ACD accounts referring to Lynn University says that "the university has undertaken to provide adequate financial and operational support to enable ACD to continue operating for the foreseeable future".

Griffith College Dublin was established originally in 1974 as the Business and Accounting Training College. Bellerophon, which trades as Griffith College Dublin, made losses between 1996 and 1997, the last date of registration of their accounts. Their total losses for this period appear to be modest - just over £27,000.

But accumulated losses for the year ending in mid-1997 were more than £1.6 million. In mid-1996 accumulated losses stood at £1,602,350. However, the loss of £27,000 is substantially down from the £191,752 loss for the year ending in mid-1996. However, Bellerophon owns the land and buildings of Griffith College; the 1997 accounts show that the value of this property was put at over £3.5 million. The director of the college, Diarmaid Hegarty, points out that the present value of the property and buildings "has moved on significantly since then".

Hegarty says that Griffith College has been undergoing refurbishment in recent years which explains the losses in the accounts. He says, however, that when the refurbishments were complete, the college would start to make profits.

LSB which was set up in 1983, appeared to have accumulated losses of over £67,000 for the year up to mid-1998. This was down from accumulated losses of nearly £100,000 the previous year and so the college has made a profit of over £30,000 between 1997 and 1998. In the year to August 1997, the college seems to also have made profits of over £54,000.

The Dublin Business School was set up in 1975 and has a parent company which trades under the name Accounting and Business College Holdings Limited. It has a number of companies which are subsidiary to a parent company. Account details for one subsidiary, Accountancy and Business College (Ireland) Limited for the year ending June 1996, the last accounts filed, seem to show that there was a loss of over £240,000. This was despite the fact that they had cumulative profits of over £223,000 in the year to mid-1995. In the year up to mid-1997, another subsidiary, the Newhall Printing Company Limited, made profits of more than £126,000.

The parent company of the Dublin Business School, the Accountancy and Business College Holdings Limited, showed no profit or loss details because as a small company it is not required to provide this information.

Portobello College Dublin, which was set up in 1989, is not registered as a limited company. Rather it does have two affiliated limited companies which the college says were established for bonding purposes. However neither of these companies has registered its accounts. Guy Flouch, a spokesperson for the college, points to the fact that the owner, Raymond Kearns, also owns the Institute of Education - a so-called "crammer school" - which is very profitable.

If a company does not register its account returns after one year it faces prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000. If a company does not register its accounts for more than two years it can be struck off the companies register and its assets frozen.