Students at Truro College have joined a national plea for affordable and better student transport

Andrew George MP visited Penwith College to meet with students to hear first-hand how Truro and Penwith College are affected by the lack of funding for transport.

This was part of a national lobbying day on student transport organised by the Association of Colleges (AoC).

Currently school children benefit from free travel to school, but no universal system exists to support the travel needs of 16-18 year olds. In many parts of England young people aged 16 to 18 can face long daily journeys by public transport if they choose a technical, professional or vocational career route or if they wish to access their first choice course in their first choice institution.

The Association of Colleges is calling for the Government to update the transport rules to ensure local authorities undertake a full assessment of the travel needs of 16-18 year olds to ensure they can choose the courses which best enable them to achieve their potential.

Martin Tucker, director at Penwith College, said: “Transport is a major factor for young people in accessing education or training in Cornwall. In Tertiary or sixth form colleges they often have to travel much further than those that study at school, because of the specialist provision and expertise that those colleges offer which they and their families wish to access.

"We know from the travel patterns to both our campuses just how far students are prepared to travel to get the education they need to boost their life chances, but the cost and length of journeys for so many others is just prohibitive. Part of the solution is clearly to try to expand successful and popular provision closer to where the learner demand is, and we are working towards this.

"However, in rural areas with scattered populations there will still be long journeys for many who exercise their right to choose what and where they study post-16. It’s obviously in Cornwall’s interests that its young people get the best and most appropriate education they can so support to reduce their journey costs and times is vital”.

Richard Atkins, President of the Association of Colleges, said: “It is wrong that a student might have to choose a college based on travel costs and not the course they want to study. It is vital that Government reassesses the money made available to support transport for this age group. Young people should be able to choose courses best suited to achieve their potential - irrespective of location.”