A Tennant Creek apprentice says he has no idea how he will finish his training if Charles Darwin University (CDU) goes ahead with plans to cut his course.

Key points: Cameron Rowland has been told there will be no more training in Darwin

Cameron Rowland has been told there will be no more training in Darwin He may have to go to Brisbane to complete his apprenticeship

He may have to go to Brisbane to complete his apprenticeship His father says the course cuts will drive young people out of the NT

The university said it would stop taking enrolments for around 35 vocational educational courses from next year because it lacked funding for them.

Cameron Rowland has been working as an apprentice auto electrician in his father's workshop in Tennant Creek, 500 kilometres north of Alice Springs.

The 18-year-old is one of many school-based apprentices who could lose their chance to complete training locally.

He was regularly making the 2,000km return trip to Darwin for training with CDU as part of his apprenticeship, but at the end of October received news he would have to make other arrangements.

"We found out I might have to move away, we had no course to go to next year and there's a possibility we might have to go to Queensland," he said.

Mr Rowland said getting to Brisbane would be more inconvenient as he was still attending the local high school in Tennant Creek, and the course lengths at the Brisbane trade school were longer.

"Probably twice as hard going up there, probably be away from work for longer so you might not be able to get that income as much as you would," he said.

"This is my home, everything is based here in the Territory for me."

Mr Rowland's father and boss, Kevin, said the loss of trades training courses was a blow for the Northern Territory.

"I'm pretty much devastated because someone like Cameron at his age is like a wet sponge, they just suck up everything that these guys are teaching them," he said.

Kevin Rowland said the course cuts were at odds with the NT Labor Government's economic policies to increase the local population.

"What's the point in having growth if you can't get your cars fixed?" he said.

NT Government, CDU blame feds for cuts

A spokesman for CDU said the university would continue to teach existing enrolled students until the end of 2020 and a "learner transition plan" would be developed for students unable to complete in time.

"Where possible, every student will be supported to complete their training qualification with CDU during 2019 and 2020," the statement said.

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner said cuts from the Federal Government to universities had pushed CDU to make tough choices.

"We know that federal government funding for CDU has declined since 2013 and CDU has had to make a number of decisions in its restructure based on courses which had low demand," he said.

Vice-Chancellor Simon Maddocks also said funding cuts had caused problems, when he appeared at a Senate inquiry in Darwin.

He said CDU was being treated in a similar way to long-established institutions such as the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney.