One of Cornwall's leading further education providers has been accused of putting profits above students' education after scrapping funding for some music courses. Truro and Penwith College which has campuses in Truro and Penzance, has told music students that it is removing free one-to-one music lessons and now they will have to pay instead.

One of the students on a Level three extended diploma in music contacted CornwallLive about the college's decision which he fears will be detrimental to those on the course. Jake, a guitar player who is in a band outside of college and relied on the free music lessons for his vocals, said the 19 students on his course all received a letter from Truro and Penwith College principal Martin Tucker on Thursday, July 11 at 3pm, which gave them no time to contact the college "to counter the decision, or discuss it with senior staff at all." Jake believes some 45 students could be affected in total.

Jake told us: "As a part of our course as well as other performing arts related courses, we receive free one-to-one music lessons of any instrument we choose. This is instrumental to our course, as our overall musical capabilities and technical proficiency is a key part in making up our overall grades, especially if you wish to leave college with top grades.

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"However, the ability for us to get this support and increase our capabilities on our respective instrument is about to become a lot harder, as Truro College have suddenly and unexpectedly pulled funding for our one-to-one music lessons."

Jake said parents and students have been told that the Cornwall Music Service Trust, which is a separate company to the college, will now provide the same music tuition with some of the prices being quoted being £22.50 for half an hour. Other prices listed by the CMST show 'curriculum support for 39 weeks' at £45 an hour.

The music student added: "It was done on purpose to push families into paying the prices of the lessons. The college went about this matter in a clearly profit-driven manner.

"I think it's fair to say these changes made by the college are absolutely disgusting. Not only will myself and many others lose out on important lessons for our development, but our grades will most likely suffer because of it, as our technical proficiency is what mainly dictates our performance over the year. At times like this, plenty of people don’t have the £90 a month to pay for these weekly lessons."

Another of his performance music coursemates sent CornwallLive a similar message. They said: "When joining Truro College in September 2023 we were told that we would be getting free one-to-one singing lessons as part of our course. Our course is already pretty expensive with the cost of new equipment, dancing shoes, costumes, etc. And not many of us can afford to pay these extortionate fees on top of the other costs when we used to pay nothing.

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"These one-to-one lessons were helpful to me personally last year as I felt I was getting the attention I needed to grow and round out my performance skills focusing on me rather than in a big group setting. This is not the only way we will be potentially affected by the lack of performing arts funding.

"We have also been warned that our actual lesson hours may be shortened in September and that we may have to fundraise the money for our end-of-the-year performance due to the expenses not fitting in the budget. We now have to spend more time worrying about these issues than actually being educated."

In his letter to parents and students, Mr Tucker wrote: "We are committed to growing our outstanding music offer to young people in Cornwall and to facilitate this we are making a change to the way our instrumental/vocal tuition is delivered and funded from the academic year 2024-25.

"Lessons from September 2024 will be delivered by Cornwall Music Service Trust in collaboration with MusicAbility, funded and paid for by the parent/carer. Lessons with CMST will be delivered on the college campus in one of our practice rooms and during the college day where possible.

"We strongly recommend that all students on Music Performance and Musical Theatre qualifications sign up for one-to-one (or small group) instrumental and vocal lessons."

The letter added: "This change does not affect our academy or enrichment offer, which will continue to be funded by the college. In addition, any young person who is invited to a conservatoire audition will receive support and guidance from the college on an individual case-by-case basis."

A spokesperson for Truro and Penwith College said: "We have completed an annual review of all student enrichment provision following funding allocations from the Education & Skills Funding Agency and the agency has elected to direct its music tuition subsidy to support its Music Academies and Enrichment Programme more widely within the college.

"This will benefit a higher number of learners who may otherwise have no access to musical performance opportunities in college, whilst continuing to encompass those on Performing Arts courses.

"The decision brings the college’s music tuition in line with many schools and colleges across Cornwall. Those who would like specific, individual tuition will be supported to access local services with the College offering daytime use of its facilities to accommodate this.

"We recognise that this will be a disappointment to some learners, but we remain committed to supporting and providing access to music and the performance arts widely across college."