Subsidised travel for FE learners and apprentices must be a priority for the government, the NUS students’ union has said.

The NUS has conducted a survey of students and apprentices as part of its #myFEjourney campaign on the financial impact of travelling to college or placements. Last week education secretary Damian Hinds refused to say whether the Conservative Party will deliver on its manifesto commitment to offer travel discounts to hard-up apprentices after he was questioned in Parliament.

The NUS recommends that discounts for under-18s or full-time students should be extended to apprentices, and it has backed Labour’s call for free bus travel for under-25s but would like to see it offered to all apprentices, too.

Deciding between travel or food

According to the survey, almost half of learners spent over £20 per week on travel to and from their place of learning, and travel costs appear fairly consistent across the UK. In some parts of the country, like the North East and Yorkshire, travel takes up half of students’ weekly budgets. For one in 20 students across the country, travel represents upwards of 75 per cent of what they spend in a week.

One student said: “£4 per day might not seem like a lot of money but sometimes it’s the difference between eating that day or not.”

When students expanded on their reasons for missing days of placement or study, 44 per cent said that it was having little or no money which kept them away. Not only is the cost of travel a barrier, but in some places, particularly rural areas, buses might not even turn up. One in five students or apprentices said public transport was “not at all” reliable.

Transport ‘creates barriers’

Emily Chapman, the NUS students’ union vice-president for further education, said transport is a huge problem which creates barriers to those trying to access their courses and placements.

She added: “Unsurprisingly, half of learners surveyed were concerned about cost but that wasn’t the only issue. The reliability and availability of transport can cause the biggest barriers with vast differences between regions.

“Subsidised travel for FE learners and apprentices must be a priority for this government who have made promises to better fund local authority travel. To ensure it is no longer a barrier to the millions of FE students and apprentices, public transport infrastructure must meet the needs of our learners.”