The Moora Residential College has been saved from closure at the end of this year after the Federal Government announced a plan to hand it a financial lifeline.

Key points: Moora Residential College was set to be closed as part of Education Department cuts

Moora Residential College was set to be closed as part of Education Department cuts The community rallied against the closure through a grass-roots protest campaign

The community rallied against the closure through a grass-roots protest campaign The Federal Government has now committed $8.7 million to keep the college open

The Commonwealth will provide $8.7 million in capital funding to the rural college in WA's Wheatbelt to fund "major refurbishment" of its facilities.

A fierce grassroots campaign has been growing since the WA Government announced a decision to close the school, as part of a suite of measures aimed at saving money within the Education Department.

The joint federal statement from Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said the State Government had accepted the capital grant for the college.

"(The State Government has) committed to providing the necessary ongoing recurrent funding to keep it open," he said in the statement co-authored by Finance Minister and WA Senator Mathias Cormann and Federal Member for Durack Melissa Price.

"Investing in the college facility reinforces the Federal Government's ongoing commitment to building a strong and accessible education sector in both regional and metropolitan communities.

"The Federal Liberals and Nationals Government is committed to supporting rural and regional students to access secondary education, ensuring they have the same opportunities as students living in cities."

Mark McGowan said WA could continue to fund the ongoing costs of the college. ( ABC News: Jacob Kagi )

WA Premier Mark McGowan said the state would foot the bill for recurrent costs of up to $500,000 a year.

"We were always very clear during the course of this debate that the capital works were the issue," the Premier said.

He said the money for recurrent costs would come from the state education budget.

The college provides boarding accommodation to about 26 country students who attend Central Midlands Senior High School.

A relentless grass roots protest campaign

The Government had been adamant the decision to shut Moora Residential College at the end of 2018 was reasonable, insisting the number of students affected was small and they could be accommodated elsewhere.

A relentless Save Moora College grass roots campaign, which began last December, saw hundreds of people and several trucks spray-painted with slogans protest on the steps of WA's Parliament House. It delivered a commitment from the WA Opposition that it would keep the college open if it won the next state election.

The threat of the college closure was enough to get the WA Country Women's Association up in arms, and spurred it to hold its first ever protest rally in February.

Under pressure, the McGowan Government has already reversed a number of education spending cuts, including plans to shut down the School of the Air.

'Absolute relief' for families, children

President of the Central Midlands Senior Highschool P&C, Tracey Errington, said the news had been overwhelming for all involved.

"The principal made the announcement over the PA … she was that overwhelmed herself she couldn't finish saying it," Ms Errington said.

"There was a lot of crying, a lot of happy crying, and a lot of hugging.

"And just the relief, absolute relief, for those kids that now they don't have to worry about anything except for continuing their studies this year.

"You know it's been a long, hard nine months … there'll be a lot of celebrating in Moora tonight."

One of the trucks that protested against the Government's planned closure of the Moora Residential College. ( ABC News: Briana Shepherd )

Ms Errington — who played a leading role in keeping the issue alive — said the news may have come too late for some families.

"We possibly still will lose one or two only because they've already put arrangements in place, and those arrangements have involved the whole family," she said.

Ms Errington said despite the long fight, she held no animosity towards the State Government.

"To their credit, it probably wouldn't have been an easy decision, especially the grief we've given them over the last nine months," she said.

"So no, no animosity there. The decision's been made, it's the right decision and that's it."

Campaign took a 'significant toll'

Mother-of-two Mandy Grieger, from Eneabba 130 kilometres north-east of Moora, said the decision had lifted a weight off her shoulders.

Her son Jack had boarded at the facility for two years, and had been stressed by the uncertainty surrounding the future of the college.

Mandy Grieger with her sons Jack (left) and Max. ( Supplied: Mandy Grieger )

"I'm overwhelmed, I'm excited, I just want to celebrate," she said.

"I'm just glad we've had so much support from everybody — not just Moora, the support all throughout regional Western Australia has been unbelievable.

"It's not just us, it's the surrounding communities, all the other kids that go there.

"It's been a long campaign supported by many people. I think they're going to be so excited they've won and that Moora never backed down."

Ms Grieger said the campaign opposing the closure had taken a significant toll on her family.

"I had lost hope but in the back of my mind I'm thinking there must have been a change of heart, maybe we would eventually get to them, and I think this has now happened," she said.

Moora Residential College was earmarked for closure under funding cuts announced by the McGowan Government. ( ABC News: Jessica Hayes )

'We've left no stone unturned'

Moora Shire President Ken Seymour told the ABC's County Hour the news was unexpected, but the whole community was delighted.

"We've left no stone unturned to try and correct that decision, and all the hard work from the local people and the support right across the state and Australia has paid off," he said.

Mr Seymour said he had been quietly confident common sense would prevail because education and medical facilities were vital when trying to attract people to country towns.

He dismissed concerns the $8.7 million was being spend on just 26 students.

"There's 50 beds at that college and if anything it's galvanised the community, we need to try and fill that college to close to capacity and improve the education," he said.

"So we will now work with governments and try and increase the numbers, get it back to the 30s and 40s and maybe 50s, and make Moora a great place to educate students."

He also said the college refurbishment could be done for a lot less than $8.7 million.

Big relief for small businesses

Butcher Gary Purser says the closure would have cost his business $20,000 a year. ( ABC News: Jessica Hayes )

Moora butcher Gary Purser has supplied the college's meat since it was built in the 1970s, and said the facility's closure would have cost his business $20,000 in sales annually.

"I'm only a small country butcher but the amount they buy off me is a huge part of my business," he said.

"Things are pretty quiet all around the place and you can't afford to lose any customers … especially ones as big as that.

"It's got a lot of spin off, there's a lot of different businesses that would've been affected by it."

Communities will not accept 'cruel cuts'

The Liberal Party's education spokeswoman Donna Faragher welcomed the decision, before calling on the Government to overturn other education cuts.

"The simple fact is that there's a pattern of behaviour by the McGowan Labor Government around poor decisions being made in the area of education," she said.

"Yes, some of them have been reversed … but the point is these decisions should have never been made in the first place."

WA Nationals leader Mia Davies said she believed the State Government had been shamed into putting money onto the table only after the Federal Government intervened.

"This Government must take this as a message that the state, and the communities in this state, will not accept their cruel cuts to regional communities and education in particular," she said.

"It's time they started thinking before they made any further awful cuts and started putting some thought into actually building regional communities."