Whanganui's Community Education Services (CES) says that without a significant increase in funding from the district council the organisation will have to close its doors.
That grim scenario was outlined yesterday in a submission to the district council's 2016-17 annual plan hearings by CES manager Sian MacGibbon.
Mrs MacGibbon said CES was unique in Whanganui and that no other organisation provided life-long learning as it did.
She said it had been around for more than 35 years but its work had been made more difficult after the funding usually expected from the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) was cut.
"TEC's focus has shifted to qualification-based learning and job placement. While we do not provide national qualifications-based outcomes, we do provide educational courses which the community identifies with."