A GROUP of students has been left devastated after cash-strapped Salisbury College axed their two-year national diploma course after just nine days.

Some of the eight students affected had given up jobs to take the national diploma in fashion and textiles and were thrilled when they enrolled for the course on September 2.

But their joy turned to anger and disbelief last Wednesday, when, moments after the minute's silence in memory of the Twin Towers atrocity, they were told by department head Bill Shepley that the course had been cancelled.

The college faces a £1m-plus deficit and has already reduced the numbers of lecturing and support staff in an effort to cut costs.

Zoe Lucas (21), of Sarum Close, Salisbury, was one of the eight and is acting as spokeswoman for the group.

She told the Journal: "I want to become a fashion journalist and when I enrolled there did not seem to be any problem that there were only eight on the course.

"What makes me angry is that the course had been running for nine days without any warning that it was to finish.

"If there were doubts about it, why were we not told at the very start and we could all have thought about what we could do?

"The college has axed the journalist course and the national diploma course is the only one suitable to me."

Ms Lucas, who is the mother of two young children, has also had to take her two-year-old son Byron out of the college playgroup where he had settled in well.

Ali Chant (16) of Shaftes-bury, left school intent on continuing her education at the college.

She said she gave up a job she took during the summer so that she could enrol on the diploma course and had now been left without a job, money or college course.

She said: "The head of department just walked in and said, 'Sorry, girls, we've had to stop your course.'

"It is so unfair - it had only been running a few days."

Mr Shepley, head of the department of visual and performance arts, told the Journal: "After considerable thought and discussion with the college's senior managers, we have reached the very regrettable conclusion that we can no longer run the first year of the course.

"The decision has been taken due to the low number of applications received this academic year.

"Only eight students enrolled on the course, which needs a total of 14 to be financially viable.

"A shortfall of six students is unfortunately not sustainable.

"I appreciate that parents and students may feel that this decision should have been made earlier and I sympathise with this view.

"However, we never take such decisions lightly and we needed firm information on enrolments and an opportunity to investigate all options before a decision could be made."