£430 for one term of college bus fare

[Caerulea]

We've one secondary in our catchment & it has no 6th form so kids have to go to the nearest college which is 15 odd miles away - 1 hour 40 by bus.

We've just paid £430 for ONE TERM of bus fare!

The full year, if you could pay all at once, is £950.

If we do it termly it's going to be around £1.5k.

Daily would be £9

Isn't this just wrong on so many levels? Why are there deals at all & not just a set price? This is a low socio-economic area with low academic achievement & very rural. It's almost double what the first term was last year for DS2

Is there not a scheme that offers discounts through the college?

In Brum the majority of the colleges offer a free bus pass.

My dds school bus (45 min journey) costs me £1210 a year.

We're out of catchment by 1.5 miles.

Is this a private bus?

Was there a reason you went out of catchment? The bus for secondary was free for the only one in catchment, anything outside of that we'd have to pay for.

Which we did for DS1 & accept if you choose to do that, but on this we've no choice - it's the only way to do a-levels etc.

It's a dedicated college bus, there isn't a public bus that anyone could use - buses are terrible here.

The 950 one is discounted & there are various bursaries but none are free at all.

That is an absolute disgrace OP. I would be going to my local MP about that.

Its £450 for the year at our nearest college.

Its unfair when they increased the leaving age to 18 (pretty much) they didn't increase the transport age

Not far off what my daughter would pay in regular bus fare going both ways each day and we live quite close to college. Actually I work near so can drop her off and pick up some days so will cost me less. If you look at cost per day it doesn't seem so bad but that depends if you're using the bus daily. If not it's less good value.

We are similar, very rural. Son attended catchment college. Same price !! This year we have to pay for our PMLD child to attend college at his SEN school.

What are of uk do you live as bus fares here will be £6 per day and it's a max 30 min journey. So £9 per day seems reasonable by our measures!

That's outrageous, we should want an educated populated.

I guess there's no option then, I'd be getting the driving lessons sorted ASAP!

She's at grammar school, which is part of the reason, but an equal part was that it is a much smaller school than the ones in catchment (600 vs 2000) and she would disappear into the background in a school that size rather than be stretched.

It’s a huge expense when education or training is compulsory 16-18.
My dc’s wasn’t that much but it was still expensive. Once she passed test she drove my car.
There’s always moans on Facebook about parents dropping at school or teens parking in side streets but some posters think school buses are free!

Are you certain that you cant apply for a travel pass through your local council? We did this for my DD, although it was quite complicated and she got free travel all throughout college. The rules stated it had to be her nearest college/6th form offering the course she was doing

Think our local one is a bit less than this, but still a lot (would have to check with friends, but a lot of people I've met with recently have been talking about nursery/school/college things for obvious reasons. Does your area not have a sixth form nearer, which could be cheaper to travel to? I do think it's unfair that they made post-16 education compulsory, but shut a lot of the sixth forms, so for some students, they have to travel the best part of 2 hours, and I get that might apply to you too. To me, it's wrong to make them travel so far, and it costs a lot, which is unfair if there's no local sixth form (I get some people have always chosen to travel because they want a specific college, but it's a different matter if there's no choice). I know quite a few families who don't qualify for any assistance, but they are struggling to afford bus/college travel.

It's the only college the council don't work with any more, it's entirely separate. Otherwise it seems to be around £700 via the council for other colleges in the county.

There are two secondaries equidistant from us with 6th forms, about 10 miles out of catchment - not a cat in hells chance of getting into either of them. Thinking about it, it's never even mentioned as an option for post 16.

If we'd chosen the non standard path, as we did with DS1, then I accept it's our responsibility to shoulder the extra costs but this isn't the case here. Either we all pay or kids drop education and & go into apprenticeships at 16.

I'm coastal Cornwall. Useful public transport isn't a thing here unless you're already in the big towns. Cars are a necessity, not a luxury & DS3 will be learning ASAP lol

Our council introduced similar bus fares when I had 3 still in secondary. The bus fares would have been 10% of our income. And because they often had after school clubs, we'd have needed to pay again for them to catch the public bus home. I drove them all instead. It was far, far cheaper, but only doable because I was a carer so didn't work. It's a real disincentive to getting the right education for your child. We're in a grammar school area and whereas your nearest catchment school remained free, when families had to find £800 a year to send their child to the grammar school (this was years ago, it's £1k now), many parents of bright kids simply couldn't afford it.

I was so outraged by your reply, I fury-read it to DH & DS3 then totally forgot to say to you that it's disgusting you've to pay like that for your PMLD child

My DS and DD school bus fares are £1300 EACH! for 3 and 1/2 miles.

It’s an absolute outrage, particularly as the government are so determined to have children in education until 18, yet don’t automatically provide them with a free bus pass.
We live rurally and have just been informed that because the college is in a different county , we will need to purchase TWO termly bus passes , one for each county. Combined with daily lunches and necessary uniform it’s super expensive.
We’re waiting on a couple of apprenticeship interview outcomes and really hoping these will work out instead.

I don't think that's the cheaper option....

If they have to stay in education till 18 then transport should be free