Regional and rural kids are seriously disadvantaged compared to their metro counterparts if they want to gain a tertiary education.

A kid from the country has to find a extra $25,000 for out of pocket living expenses if he or she wants to move to the city to study.

It is a figure that deters many students and families and as a result many bright kids are missing out on their full potential because of their geographical circumstances.

The latest university offers, released this month, indicate that many country students were either not entering their preferred course or were deferring their studies to work so that they could one day afford to pay for the course.

Only the wealthiest regional and rural families can afford to send their children to university in the cities.

The system isn’t fair and several reports, including the latest one, Deferring a University Offer in Victoria, have pointed out that more support should be provided for rural students in their first 12 or 18 months of study.

Of course, this makes sense. Every Australian student, no matter what their background or where they live, should be allowed to compete on a level playing field.

While education ministers have made all the right noises about the issue for may years, the problem remains with increasing numbers of students based in the south-west having to choose something other than their preferred course.

Alarmingly, it does not look like things will improve if the government’s controversial deregulation measures eventually see the light of day because it will mean that more attractive courses will become more expensive and force regional students once again to see lower-cost degrees.

Regional Australia gets left behind in many areas by city-centric government policies, but it is unforgivable that education is not made a priority for change.