My daughter has received her first choice offer in the CAO round one for a course in Dublin, but almost everything will be delivered online. We live in Tipperary and I can’t justify the cost of accommodation. Would she be better off deferring for a year?
Your dilemma is being played out in families all over Ireland right now. Going to college is a right of passage for many young people and the prospect of the severely limited social and academic interactions which Covid-19 will allow is filling them with dread.
The regulations already published by colleges around the use of their accommodation blocks, aimed at keeping Covid-19 at bay, would suggest that all social interactions will be extremely limited for those living on campus.
From a parent’s perspective, with money tight, it makes no sense to fund a student in college, when attending when required on a day per week or week per month basis or whatever arrangement is put in place, could save €10,000 on the overall cost of the year. From your daughter’s perspective, that’s not what she dreamed college would be like.
The question that then arises is whether to defer her place until next year and hope that you are back in gainful employment and that a vaccine has become available to enable her to have a normal college life or to proceed with the truncated experience that seems to be on offer at the moment?
At present, it seems highly unlikely that colleges will offer a significantly higher number of deferred places than normal, as to do so would skew the numbers attempting to secure places in 2022.
She could of course simply not accept her offer, but this would place her in open competition in the 2021 CAO process.
If she were to take that route, what would she do for the year? Travel is out of the question, employment prospects for young school leavers are dire, and even volunteering will be severely constrained by Covid-19 regulations.
She could consolidate her knowledge of her field of interest by taking a Further Education course locally, but that still leaves her living at home.
I am afraid that you are going to have to sit down as a family and put the cards clearly on the table. It would seem that compromise will be required to reach a resolution. Financially, funding an apartment or other accommodation on a full-time basis is beyond reasonable in the present circumstances.
Commuting when required is not her preferred option, but if she wants to start her studies in 2020, hoping for normality in the not too distant future, then it seems to me that this would meet both your budgetary and her desire for independence options.
