Funds warning over college places

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Colleges have warned that thousands of prospective students will have to be turned away because of record levels of applications.

College principals said demand had risen by a third, with unprecedented numbers of redundant workers and school leavers seeking places.

They have appealed to ministers for funds to create extra places.

The Scottish Government said funding for individual colleges was solely the job of the Scottish Funding Council.

The umbrella body, Scotland's Colleges Principals' Convention, said college applications had risen by 35% overall - although some individual institutions had not recorded dramatic increases, such as Aberdeen College, at 16%.

However, some colleges such as Anniesland in Glasgow, reported rises of up to 106%.

We're going to see students not being able to get on to courses and large waiting lists across the whole of Scotland Linda McTavishAnniesland College principal

Applications to Carnegie in Fife have risen by 65%, and by 61% at Glasgow's Cardonald College.

The umbrella body warned that thousands of school leavers would be turned away when they applied for places in August, after the exams results come out.

It called on the Scottish Government to follow Westminster in allocating extra money for extra student places.

Linda McTavish, convenor of the convention and principal of Anniesland College, said: "We are dismayed because we'd like to have places for all the students who are applying to us.

"We're going to see students not being able to get onto courses and large waiting lists across the whole of Scotland.

She asked for the Scottish Government to provide more money to the Scottish Funding Council via Barnett consequentials, the process by which changes in spending at Westminster affect the money available to the devolved administration.

'Tough decisions'

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Ministers are currently considering how UK Budget consequentials will be applied in Scotland.

"It is no secret that a recession requires tough decisions and that includes those by colleges.

"Ministers rely on the expertise of college board of management to decide how resources are spent most effectively."

The spokeswoman said while the number of funded places within a college was set at an agreed limit, there was "no restriction in the number of extra students a college can enrol if it has the capacity to do so".

Last month, the Scottish Funding Council announced that colleges would receive an extra £14m in funding next year to improve student support in "challenging economic times".

Much of the increase would go towards bursaries, childcare and emergency funding for students, it said.