her daughter's complaints are true.

It is the latest twist in a saga that has seen some Bermudian students leave Allen University in North Carolina after just a month.

But others have stayed on stating that they knew that their work at the university would include some manual work to improve its dilapidated state.

The mother, who asked not to be named, is to visit Columbia, North Carolina, in November to see if her daughter's complaints are correct.

She said: "I do trust what she has said but I will not just sit back and leave it at that.

"She is insisting on staying on because I have paid for the first semester and there is no way they will give me a refund.'' Other students have complained about the state of the accommodation although they were warned that they would be asked to work as part of a deal, organised by Sen. Trevor Woolridge, which gave them a discounted scholarship fee.

They knew they would be asked to work in certain areas and do some manual work on the university and the halls of residence.

But the mother of the 18-year-old student says many students are experiencing problems much worse than first expected.

She said: "On her floor in the halls the bathrooms are not working so she has to go to another floor to bath or shower.

"But it is not just the state of the accommodation there are other problems that need to be exposed.'' She said another student who had left the university had confirmed the poor conditions.

"She said the whole place is pathetic.'' The mother claims that her daughter was hoping to get into accountancy but has been unable to get on the right courses. Instead she is studying art and the bible in classes twice the size those originally stated.

She said: "It appears that everything about the university is wrong. My daughter says she is studying only three hours a day and working four hours a day.

"She says the food in the canteen is terrible and she has been living off Chinese meals.

"Also the area they are in appears to be the main drug area of Columbia. The students who go out are in danger of being shot.'' The mother believes more students and parents would have complained but instead they are tolerating the conditions because their fees have been paid or in some cases parents see the students as "out of sight, out of mind''.

She said: "If there is something to expose about Allen University I will find it when I go out there. But I will not remove my daughter until I have seen it myself.

"I will be furious if my hard earned money has gone on something that will not be of benefit to my daughter.'' But another mother, who wrote a letter to the Editor, said her daughter was very happy at Allen. "What wasn't right with her room, I made right,'' said Mrs. Gloria Stovell.

And she said the discipline the students received from the work they had to do was beneficial and taught them responsibility.