The future of a Government scheme to rebuild England's colleges has been left hanging in the balance by the "reckless" behaviour of the agency in charge, MPs have said.
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) was berated for building up expectations that it could not meet, and for its "serious failures" in managing the programme.
Around 144 colleges saw their building projects frozen by the LSC in December after the money ran out.
A report by the Commons public accounts committee (PAC) found that the LSC had approved building projects for 79 colleges which required funding totalling almost £2.7 billion more than the Council could afford.
"There has been a very serious failure in the management of the programme, with the LSC over-stimulating the demand for funding and mismanaging the approval process," the report said.
"The Council was reckless in allowing colleges' expectations of financial support to build to levels far in excess of what the Council could afford."
The cross-party group of MPs said there is now "considerable uncertainty" about the future of the programme, and called for this to be resolved as soon as possible.
The report notes that the Government has made an extra £300 million available, and 13 colleges have now been given the go-ahead to proceed with their building work.
But it adds: "The Department must meet its commitment that colleges will not be allowed to get into a situation where they cannot meet their financial obligations as a result of decisions taken by the Council on the capital programme."
There is now a risk that some colleges are taking on more debt than they can afford.
