There will be no long, nervous wait over summer for OP scores and university offers for a group of Year 12 students from Hervey Bay’s St James Lutheran College who graduate tomorrow.

Almost half of the school’s OP eligible cohort already have a place at USC, after taking advantage of the University’s Early Offer Guarantee.

The St James seniors are among hundreds of students to receive offers in the past few days through the program that provides students a guaranteed place in a USC undergraduate degree before the release of Year 12 results.

For Teleigha Jenkins, receiving an offer in USC’s Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Criminology and Justice on the Sunshine Coast was a thrilling start to celebrations for her final week of formal schooling.

“Having the assurance that I can study law next year, and can go ahead and start planning is the best thing,” she said.

“University is such a big step, it is your whole future, so not having to wait until formal offers in January gives you the opportunity to get sorted, figure out living arrangements, expenses, and will make the whole transition so much easier.”

Under the scheme, USC makes the early offers based on the recommendations of school principals who consider the students’ academic potential, skills, talents and motivation to succeed.

The St James seniors are representative of the increasing number of regional students choosing to study close to home, with USC’s capture rate of Year 12 Fraser Coast students growing from 15 percent in 2015 to over 40 percent in the past two years.

“It is pretty exciting. I had a little dance around my bedroom when I opened my offer,” said Maddison Jewell, who will study a Bachelor of Nursing Science at USC’s Fraser Coast campus next year.

“It is going to be so much cheaper to stay home and not have the expense of having to move and find a new job.”

Ishara Hall is another student who is taking up the option to study locally, and will begin the first-year of USC’s Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) at its Fraser Coast campus.

“I really wanted the opportunity not to have any stress about university anymore, so it has made my life a lot easier to know now that I have a place at USC and that I can complete my first year in Hervey Bay.”

The St James students have received offers in a range of courses at USC’s campuses on the Sunshine Coast and at Fraser Coast, including Mechanical Engineering, Occupational Therapy and Secondary Education and Recreation and Outdoor Environmental Studies.

Applications are still open via QTAC for more than 100 programs at USC in 2018. Almost 20 degrees and study programs are offered at USC’s Fraser Coast campus next year including new first-year programs in Environmental Science and a double degree in Secondary Education and Science.

Information on how to apply to study at USC in 2018.

— Clare McKay