Many mature students/ evening students often need to balance a professional and family life with the same academic pressures as other students. They should no longer be the forgotten people of UCC. The college must do all it can to accommodate these competing pressures and the Union must be on their side working for them. Finance is often a huge concern for many mature students/evening students – clear advice before they enter college and after are essential. Many mature students can only access the library at weekends; only facilitating this in the second term isn’t good enough. We need only look at the successful Access Programmes and Disabled Students Office to see that support services can be effective but mature students & evening students must to be included in the decision.

As President, I will:

• Explore the possibility of a mature student/evening student officer within the Union as part of CRG
• Consult the students at the heart of the matter to see what their needs are
• Campaign for increased opening hours at weekends.
• Specifically focus on a mature student’s information campaign.
• Use the proposed alternative prospectus to give mature students/evening students a real understanding of the demands of college.