Cost of Train to College

[Belshels]

We are really struggling to pay, it's £12 a day for 18 year old yp! That's £240 a month, for her trip to and from college. She has just gone to a 16-25 railcard which doesn't discount before 10am... What is that then? The 16/17 railcard she had previously meant train was half price in rush hour too.
Am I missing something?
Season tickets are £92 per week which is even more!
I don't get how there isn't some sort of discount for teens?
Any advice appreciated xx

She's an adult and so needs to pay adult prices, unless she wants to travel after 10am with the Railcard. It does disadvantage students but peak time travel is busy and expensive, they won't discount it as they prioritise commuters who will pay full price.

July and August you can use Railcard at any time of day.

In Scotland the government have scrapped peak rail tickets and my commute has gone from £18 to £12, it's such a great saving!

Why are you struggling to pay, doesn't her student loan cover this? If she's living at home she can't have many other costs.

I think this will depend on if she’s 18 and in 6th form or 6th form type college doing A levels or 18 and at uni. If it’s the former, where I am the college will provide a free pass if young people live more than 3 miles away from the college.
if she’s in uni, I’m not sure if they have a student finance person who might be able to offer advice?

Is there an annual academic year season ticket?

Have you looked at a flexi ticket? In Scotland it’s 12 single journeys any direction between two points over 2 months and in England it’s 8 days travel in a 28 day period.

She’s 18. She needs to either get a job and pay it herself, or it needs to be accepted that she’ll be paying adult prices.

It's a nightmare op. Imo now they've made staying in education compulsory until 18, the legislation around school transport needs to be updated so it remains free until 18 too.

colleges can offer bursaries but they're restricted. I can only wish for colleges offering free transport for those over 3 miles away here!

I feel your pain OP - I thought £900 a year for a sixth-form bus pass was steep, but that’s horrific.

Can the college help at all? Either with bursaries or timetabling, allowing travel after 10 on some days.

You are totally correct. Any sixth former/college student should be entitled to a free pass to and from their place of education irrespective of distance. University is different as all students can access financial support but obviously this isn’t the case for sixth form. It’s an unfair situation as it penalises the families of students from less well off backgrounds.

Where I am the local authority provides a discount card so fares are the same as the 16-17 railcard. I feel your pain though - unlike school kids living over 3 miles away aren’t entitled to free transport, even though education is compulsory. Lift share? Cycle? Mine passed their driving tests and borrowed our car during year 13….

I didn't realise the 16-25 wasn't valid at peak times as the 16-17 is. My son gets a travel bursary as we are low income, so it goes towards most of the cost of a monthly ticket.

My children have 16-25 railcards for their commute into London - the discount absolutely does apply at peak times.

Can she get a bus instead? I realise it might be a longer journey.

Can't she drive to college?

Yep. And it's not even provided to disabled 16-18 yr olds who have an EHCP naming a school/college miles away, which is a disgrace.

@Belshels she might be able to get EMA, or a bursary from the college. Or can she investigate lift shares with another student? Assuming you're rural with a 12 mile journey so lots of them will probably be driving already.

Lessons, a reliable car, and insurance for an 18 yr old may well cost more than £240/month

Plus if she isn't well on the way to learning already she won't be driving by the end of this school year with the current state of booking a test.

I was in the same boat a couple of years ago and I don’t think there is a solution. Dd didn’t qualify for a travel bursary, buses took over 3 hours each way (train under 30 mins), she has a September birthday so the 16/17 railcard she used in y12 didn’t apply to y13. We ended up buying her a car. The insurance was about £20 a week and she could drive to a park and ride. Obviously the lessons were a big expense although we put a massive effort into taking her out ourselves for practice, and getting a driving test was a total nightmare but there was very little depreciation on the car and she used it for work and socialising too. Kids going to school shouldn’t be just told to “get a job” to be able to afford to commute. Education goes on until 18 and that should be recognised. 6th formers don’t get student loans or any financing at all bar child benefit.

I am presuming she’s in Year 13 (pr whatever the equivalent is)?

It has always seemed to be unjust - and massively disadvantageous to those who
live rurally or in areas of sparser population - that transport for sixth formers at school or college is not free or subsidised, even to the nearest institution or the school they have attended for 11-16.

If you live in a town within walking distance of multiple schools / colleges, then that is a cost you and your families simply don’t have. When your nearest 6th form is in a college in a town 15 miles away, you have to pay every penny, at peak rates. Those with 18th birthdays early in the academic year are further disadvantaged by train fare and discount structures.

OP, ask the college. They may have a hardship fund that can help for this last section of their sixth form age studies.

Unfortunately this is why many young people don't have access to much of a choice when it comes to their post 16 education. Many of ds's schoolfriends stayed on at school, which offered a very limited choice of A levels and a few Btecs, instead of going to to the nearest high performing 6th form college. They simply could not afford the bus or train fayre.

No it doesn't. There have been some cases in the news recently where the train app allowed young people to buy discounted open tickets but those caught using them before 10.00am have been fined.

There is a minimum fayre of £12 during peak times before a discount can be applied.

It is even worse when there is no choice at all - locally to me (rural area) no state schools have 6th forms, as the few remaining have closed. The only choice for local young people from a very wide radius is to pay for transport to college.

It is valid before 10am but there’s a minimum fare of £12.

It says otherwise on the website.

It also says “If you travel regularly before 10:00am, then a weekly or monthly season ticket may be more appropriate, though you won’t be able to get a Railcard discount.”

I agree it’s nuts OP (I’m assuming A Levels as opposed to university) and a real issue for young people, especially in rural areas. How far away is she from passing her driving test? Does she know anyone who she could liftshare with? That’s what the 18 year olds do around here (rural southwest)

Yes, I understand that situation. I live in an area where schools don't have 6th forms. Ds's school was one of the very few that did but only offerd extremely limited subjects. Ds wanted to study music (and is now studying it at uni) & they had no option at all at his school.