A CREWE college is dipping into its own purse to fund transport for new students.

Cheshire County Council education chiefs are axing free bus services from September which means that South Cheshire College recruits would be expected to pay £60 a term towards transport costs. An estimated 400 new students would be affected.

But college bosses have decided to foot the bill for the new intake and pay their fees, which could cost around £80,000.

The college already provides around £50,000 to support free transport for students so the extra aid will mean a total commitment of approximately £130,000.

"We did suspect this situation might arise and have been budgeting for it for some time," said Principal David Collins.

"We feel it is important that students are still given the choice of coming to college to take advantage of the quality education and training we provide."

"Consequently we are happy to say that no student will be adversely affected by the county council's decision, and the college will continue to meet the educational needs of the South Cheshire area," he added.

Currently any student under 19 years of age who lives more than three miles away from campus qualifies for free transport and the county council has agreed to continue running services for those already attending the college who meet this criteria.

The South Cheshire College has 2,500 full time students at present and 932 of them qualify for free transport.

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