ABERYSTWYTH University will attract fewer students with children, it has been warned, after the closure of the only institution-run childcare facility.

As reported in the Cambrian News last week, the university has informed staff and parents that Penglais Nursery would be closed from 1 August after racking up losses close to £150,000 a year.

The move, announced to parents just weeks before the planned closure, has caused shock and outrage.

Parents who are also students at the university have warned that the institution will miss out on students after closing its only nursery, exacerbating falling intake numbers that have seen the number of first-year students at the university tumble by 25 per cent in the past five years.

Wendy Phillips, university student and parent, told the Cambrian News: “The closure of the nursery makes the university a university without childcare. I don’t think it sends a welcoming message to other mature students who have family to come here.”

An Aberystwyth University spokeswoman said: "“Extensive discussions with the nursery’s 16 members of staff have taken place, who have been offered the opportunity to seek redeployment within the university or voluntary severance.

“Parents have also been kept informed of developments and advised to make alternative arrangements for childcare."

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