A TEESSIDE girl who wants to be a vet is making a last ditch appeal for sponsorship and donations so she can go to university.

Amy Sayers, 22, from Billingham, has received an unconditional offer from Bristol University to study veterinary science needs to find £50,000 to pay the fees for five years.

She has managed to save £6,000 from working as a merchandiser at Clinkards Shoe Company in Eaglescliffe and is likely to be granted £3,500 a year as a loan from Student Finance England.

However she already has debts totalling about £22,000 from her first degree in zoology from Liverpool University. Including living costs she thinks she would need about £80,000 to earn her degree.

Amy explained her A Level grades of three Bs weren’t good enough to be able to study veterinary science at 18. It was expected she would get As but she was involved in a road traffic accident and then became ill with glandular fever for six weeks, both shortly before the exams.

She was advised to take up a zoology degree in the hope of being able to transfer to a vet course, but she wasn’t able to do so.

Amy, whose mother works as a team leader in the NHS and whose father works in the energy industry, may be able to secure a career development loan of £10,000 from a bank.

She can’t be given the usual student loan payments because it would be her second degree. Amy has contacted various trusts, veterinary surgeons and wealthy individuals in an attempt to secure sponsorship but has been unsuccessful so far.

She said: “I was just five years old when I announced I wanted to be a vet when I grew up and this is one decision I have never wavered on.”

Her website can be found at http://aime920.wix.com/amylouisesayers#