The Sixth Form Colleges Association says the quality of education to its students will suffer as a result of yet more funding cuts and some colleges will be forced to close. Proposed finding cuts for 2016/17 will see the average sixth form college over £150,000 worse off. This has resulted in  direct impact on students  with colleges cutting programmes of study

• 39% have dropped courses in modern foreign languages. The biggest casualties have been A levels in German, Spanish and French.
• 24% of colleges have dropped STEM courses.
• 76% of Sixth Form Colleges have removed or reduced enrichment activities ,biggest reductions have been in sport, followed by music and drama, and languages.
• 81% of colleges have been forced to increase class sizes 

As 16-19 specialists, Sixth Form Colleges cannot cross subsidise from more generous pre-16 funding streams (as many schools and academies do) and therefore suffer disproportionately from reductions to 16-19 funding. 

The SFCA is calling on the Government to: 

• maintain 16-19 funding at 2014/15 levels while an urgent review of funding across all stages of education is undertaken. This should inform the introduction of a national funding formula (up to and including the age of 18) based on the actual cost of delivering the curriculum.
• introduce a VAT refund scheme for Sixth Form Colleges to mirror the arrangements in place in schools and academies.