The Scottish Government did however find £10m more than planned this year, and announced that colleges would face no further cuts in cash terms next year, by providing £51m more than planned next year.
Over the course of the Fund Scotland’s Future campaign, over 51000 emails were sent to MSPs, which called on the Scottish Government to fully reverse its proposed £34.6m cut to college budgets in the 13/14 budget.
The Fund Scotland’s Future campaign gained the support of Scottish Labour, Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Greens.
Robin Parker, President of NUS Scotland, said: “Today’s decision by the Scottish Government is very disappointing for those students and people across Scotland who wrote over 50,000 emails to MSPs calling on the Scottish Government to reverse college cuts.
"While the efforts of students across Scotland has seen tens of millions put back into the budget, compared to what was originally proposed, we can’t accept a cut of £24.6m to colleges, on top of huge cuts over the last few years.
“We were hoping for much more from this budget. We fear that a cut of £24.6m could see damage to students and to colleges, coming at the same time as colleges are merging, and huge structural change.
The positives
“On the positive side, we should recognise that the Government has made pledges to keep tuition fees off the table, protect student support and college places. At the same time we understand that they have agreed to increase spending plans by £51m for next year, protecting colleges from further cuts the following year.
"While this of course is welcome, next year is next year. We need to ensure colleges can get through this year without damage to students and we fear cuts on this scale could have really negative consequences.
What's next
“We will work with the college sector and the government, both locally and nationally, to try to limit the damage of these cuts at campuses across Scotland and focus our efforts on next year’s budget to see a reversal to these cuts."