O’Mahony launches The Next Step A guide to further education in 2010/11

WITH the numbers of people attending third level college constantly on the increase, Mayo Fine Gael TD, John O’Mahony, has published a document that will make the transition for new students a relatively smooth process.

The colorful easy to read brochure provides advice for the new student on all aspects of college life. Indeed, such is its detail, that existing third level students will almost certainly find information in it that will prove useful.

So, what drove the TD to publish such an incisive insight into life as a third level student? “I simply want people who are planning to go to college to be aware of all their entitlements and also to offer a whole range of practical advice on what to expect. For many people, attending third level is the first experience of living away from home and it’s a major transition. Then, for many others, particularly people who have become unemployed, it’s their return to an environment that they probably thought they had left behind.

“Those people need assistance and guidance too and that is what I hope to give to them with this document, which I have called The Next Step, so named because going to college is the next big step in the lives of so many people,” he said.

Deputy O’Mahony said he hoped that it would help in the transition for budding students. “I know how significant and exciting a time it is for people when they go away to third level. There are so many factors to consider and what I have tried to achieve with The Next Step is to put all the issues that they will encounter all together,” he said.

Copies of the guide are available at www.johnomahony.ie or my office 094 9373560