The 17-year-old dreams of working in a restaurant and becoming a qualified chef and she wanted to complete a Certificate IV to give her some experience and help her find a job.

“I’m trying to get a job in hospitality and I want a full-time job and a lot of jobs require experience and I need to get that experience through TAFE,” she said.

Haylea finished her Higher School Certificate at Maitland High School in 2009. She chose TAFE ahead of university because of its focus on practical lessons, but now she is out of options.

Haylea wrote a letter to Maitland MP Frank Terenzini yesterday to ask for his help.

“At the moment it feels like I’m out of options and I’m very disappointed,” she said.

“I’d like to start my career now and it was disappointing to get there and be told I can’t do certificate IV because there was not enough funding.

“I want to work my way to being a chef. I’ve always had it in my head because I’ve always cooked since I was little and I would like to expand my horizons in that aspect.”

Halyea said she would now reconsider her options, but would not try to get a place in Certificate II because she had already had some hands-on experience.

“I’ve already covered all of it through my work at a takeaway in Beresfield over the past four years,” she said.

“I would be wasting my time and money.”