Students are being reminded to beat today's Central Applications Office (CAO) deadline to avoid added fees or course restrictions.

Applicants who do not process their application in advance of the 5.15pm deadline on February 1st can submit a late application at an increased fee of €50 for an online application or €80 for a paper application.

This late application facility closes on May 1st.

General manager Joseph O'Grady said potential applicants who had not yet started their application should carefully read the CAO handbook and then to go to the CAO website and click on "apply" to start their application.

“Every year a number of applicants leave the submission of their application to the last couple of hours, or even minutes, without thinking about the consequences of their browser timing out, their internet connection failing, or payment issues. In order to be fair to all applicants strict deadlines apply, and applicants should submit their application in a timely manner,” he said.

As of last week, the total number of applicants was 63,554, up from 61,235 in 2014.

Minister for European Affairs Dara Murphy had earlier urged students to consider studying foreign languages at third level. The Minister said that this route opened up a range of employment prospects for students. IDA Ireland also reminded students of the value of developing technology, engineering or language skills as part of their third level courses.