Dear Sir,
I found the article by Sam Foulder-Hughes, member of the Youth Parliament, on the cost of getting to college very much in line with the views of Year 10 & 11 students with whom I have spoken. The cost of £600 for a County Ticket can be a disincentive to students going to a particular college or even going to college at all. The County Council is well aware of these concerns and Sam is right in saying that "the issue of getting students to college is far bigger than Somerset County Council".
This year, for example, the County Council is spending more than £19 million on subsidising or providing transport. Of this:
a. £8.5 million goes on the statutory Home to School transport service
b. £1 million subsidises the College Bus Service network, not including County Ticket receipts which are effectively passed straight through to the operators
c. £2 million subsidises Bus and Coach operators for local bus services
d. £0.5 million is for Accessible Transport
e. £7 million is spent on Concessionary Fares, which is a reimbursement to bus operators.
However, to help students in acquiring a County Ticket, arrangements are in place allowing students or their parents to :
- pay in full at the beginning of a college year
- pay by Direct Debit, thereby spreading the cost over 10 months. Most students choose this option
- pay on a daily basis by buying a ticket on a bus. Numbers using this option have increased
Some colleges are offering transport bursaries to help students (up to £100 in the current year) and families on low incomes can apply to colleges for a grant of up to £1,200 (including transport). Colleges make the decisions in these cases.
£600 a year for a County Ticket works out at about £3.16 return fare per day, for attendance at college for 190 days in a year. Whilst this may seem to be a reasonable sum, it does create concern amongst students. Mr Foulder-Hughes should therefore be encouraged to continue pressing for reductions in the burden imposed on students (and their parents) when they want to go off to college.
Yours sincerely,
Bob Little
County Councillor
Castle Cary Division