Back in the days when I wrote the education pages for Irish Country Living, I remember being told, “Students, mammies and daddies will read every word you write about the CAO and points. They didn’t care about it last year, they won’t care about it next year – but this year, it’s essential information.”

I gave that same advice to Sarah McIntosh, our Careers and Education journalist as we planned for this year’s nine-page CAO supplement, and it is certainly a well-researched and informative piece.

Showing my age, it’s been over 10 years since I wrote in that section of the paper but the CAO supplement that I used to put together is very different to the one Sarah has produced for this paper. Back then, the focus was on points, points, points. I always wrote a piece about alternative routes to your ideal career, if you didn’t get the points you wanted. However, the path there certainly wasn’t clear cut, often with a few obstacles and stumbling blocks on the road.

The CAO supplement also provides useful information on financial assistance when attending college. For example, did you know that students and parents can avail of a rent tax credit?

Thankfully though, this really is changing and the stats are speaking for themselves. Apprenticeship programmes suit students that learn better from practical application of their studies and it’s an area that has shown significant growth.

Looking forward

Looking back five years ago to 2019, there were 45 national apprenticeship programmes, with 17,829 apprentices going through the system. Right now, there are 66 programmes and the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, TD has committed to delivering a further 14 this year, bringing the total to 80.

Let’s dig into the numbers even more. In 2019, 17,829 apprentices were going through the system. Current figures show the apprenticeship population has increased to 27,470, with a record 8,712 new registrations in 2023. Of that, 2,272 are women. This is compared to just 370 women registered in 2019. That is so positive, as for a long time, apprenticeships were mostly avenues men would pursue.

The Action Plan for Apprenticeships is committed to reaching 10,000 new registrations every year. To achieve this, there needs to be more options for students. Sarah details some of the new courses being run by Teagasc which include apprenticeships for farm managers, farm technicians and horticulturists. Outside of the agricultural arena, subjects like firefighting, paramedics, cheffing and digital marketing are all now options for students.

The CAO supplement also provides useful information on financial assistance when attending college. For example, did you know that students and parents can avail of a rent tax credit? Up until now it was to the value of €500 but this year, it is increasing to €750. One of the other big-ticket items is the fact that for the first time since 2011, post-graduate students can avail of the maintenance grant which is worth up to €2,384.

Speaking of more money in your pocket, I have a piece on health insurance this week. There have been serious increases to health insurance premiums this year with some family plans going up by as much as €550. However, switching policies could see you save this and more. In fact, we have one working example of a retired couple who stayed with their current provider and opted for a better value policy. Not only do they save €1,926 between them but their new policy has better benefits. Time to pick up the phone and make those savings.