Report recommends reintroduction of student grants and universities receiving at least £1,000 per care leaver or estranged student, per study year
- The Social Market Foundation (SMF) report highlights inconsistent support for care-experienced and estranged university students
- The ‘Care and Learning in Higher Education’ report calls for systemic reforms to the student finance system in England
- Concerning findings show that care leavers are three times less likely to be in higher education as the general population (14% vs 47%), coupled with significantly higher dropout rates
- Report recommends reintroduction of student grants and universities receiving at least £1,000 per care leaver or estranged student, per study year
A new report, authored by centre ground think tank, the Social Market Foundation (SMF) and commissioned by Unite Students and the Unite Foundation finds that care leavers and estranged young people in England are forced to choose between financial security and higher education.
The cross-party think tank’s report shows that just 14% of care leavers participate in higher education at age 19, lagging far behind the 47% of the general population. Those that do attend often have to choose their university based on the financial support offered, limiting their options and chance of success. The SMF recommends a series of recommendations as a result.
Lucy Everley (she/they), 25, was one such student. Lucy became estranged from her parents at 17, right at the time when many young people look at higher education options. They got into the University of Exeter to study History.
Although Lucy was eligible for the maximum maintenance loan, it was nowhere near enough, and the loss of parental financial support meant not being able to participate fully in typical university life. “I keep having to get my essay deadlines extended, and I’m the only one [in my friend group] who kept doing that… I’m the only one who can’t make it to lectures because I’m too depressed.” The SMF report highlights that even the maximum maintenance loan falls short of covering essential costs for students in England.
Lucy’s efforts to secure additional financial support, both from Student Finance England and the university, were in vain. “I was trying to keep up at a Russell Group uni… regain a sense of self… I was trying to have a life… so then to be told you need to sink hours into filling out a form that might not get you much more money… made me lose faith in the system.” The drawn out processes of proving estrangement to authorities came on top of dealing with the ongoing emotional challenge of estrangement, the grief that comes with it, Lucy noted.
Above all, Lucy emphasised that greater understanding of estrangement is needed to improve the support available: “…when I’m then navigating explaining [my estrangement situation] on the phone to a stranger to get a pittance from Student Finance that ends up being the same as the maintenance loan… when I’m filling out a [university] hardship fund and giving up halfway as I don’t know how to explain and prove it… when I have to beg my university for a deadline extension again… I feel like I wouldn’t have to jump through those hoops if there was a bit better understanding.” They added that, “if the raised awareness translated to actually changing the way things work practically, that would be enormous”.
Sadly, Lucy’s struggle will feel familiar for many care-experienced or estranged students. As well as the SMF report showing a much smaller number of care leavers participating in higher education at 19 years old, the dropout rate amongst this group is alarmingly high, with 21% leaving their studies compared to just 11% of their peers. Care experienced individuals also generally earn around one third less than those who have never been in care, according to the Institute for the Study of Civil Society, Civitas. However, this gap narrows substantially to just 2.5% for care experienced graduates compared to the average graduate, illustrating the transformative opportunities that higher education provides.
SMF’s report highlights issues with the university support available to care experienced and estranged students. This relies on precarious discretionary funding rather than funding that follows the student, meaning that well-resourced institutions with low numbers of care experienced and estranged students can more easily invest in keeping them on course.
The SMF report urges the new government to address funding for care experienced and estranged students to promote access to, and success in, higher education. The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, commissioned by the previous government, proposed a societal mission of doubling the proportion of care leavers getting into university – and particularly the most selective institutions. Yet the SMF warns that stricter grading of school exams following the pandemic, higher education funding pressures and a demographic bulge in 18-year-olds (English 18-year-olds are forecast to increase by around 200,000 over the course of the 2020s, peaking in 2030) mean that care experienced and estranged students may find their university places under threat.
In response to the worrying trends in England, SMF recommends reforms to the funding system in England, aimed at addressing the unique challenges faced by this group of vulnerable students:
- University Funding: Universities should receive a guaranteed minimum of £1,000 per student per academic year. These payments would reflect the additional costs of supporting care experienced and estranged students, as well as providing clear encouragement to enrol and retain them.
- Reinstatement of grants: Student Finance England should offer non-repayable grants, equivalent to an average parental contribution, for care-experienced and estranged students, reintroducing grants previously available in the UK 25 years ago.
- Guaranteed university offers: introduce a Guaranteed Offer Scheme, ensuring that care-experienced or estranged students receive a guaranteed offer to study at institutions when they meet the minimum entry requirements, as is already the case in Scotland.
- Extended local authority support: Standardise and extend statutory support from local authorities for students up to graduation, provided they enrol before the age of 25. This addresses the “cliff-edge” effect many students currently face when they no longer qualify for local authority support, and recognises the longer routes to Higher Education for these young people whose education is often severely disrupted by their adverse childhood experiences.
Aveek Bhattacharya, Research Director of the Social Market Foundation, and an author of the report said:
“We need to do to more to ensure care experienced and estranged people can fulfil their educational potential. That should start with dedicated funding to ensure that universities have the incentives and resources to meet their specific needs.
“At present, support is inconsistent, and it is too easy for students to fall through the cracks. Additional money should come with increased expectations, particularly to make sure that initiatives follow the evidence and help us make genuine progress in reducing educational inequality.”
Commissioning the report, Joe Lister, Chief Executive at Unite Students, said:
Care experienced and estranged students typically don’t have the same financial or family support available to them and it is important that the private sector, the Government and universities work together to find solutions to support them into university and throughout their degree. Unite Students is proud of the support we offer our residents, and our continued relationship with The Unite Foundation, which shows that the more support students receive, the more likely they are to stay and succeed in higher education.
This report sets out a series of important recommendations to help close the gap and give care experienced and estranged students the higher education opportunities they deserve. This is why we are pleased to confirm that Unite Students will be signing up to the Care Leaver Covenant.
Supporting the research, Professor Shân Wareing, Unite Foundation Chair of Trustees said:
“The Unite Foundation exists entirely to ensure care experienced and estranged students have the chance to experience, and fully benefit, from the transformative impact of a university degree. The charity makes an important contribution in this area, as do many individual universities and local authorities. But it is only by working together that we can achieve our vision and change society for all care experienced and estranged young people. On behalf of the Unite Foundation Board of Trustees, I urge Government to support our shared goals by focussed consideration of the policy levers recommended in this report.”
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Notes to Editors
- The SMF report, Care and Learning in Higher Education, will be published at https://www.smf.co.uk/publications/breaking-down-barriers/ on 26th November, 2024.
- Independent analysis by Jisc of Unite Foundation scheme that provides free student accommodation, found statistically significant outcomes in academic progression, completion and grade outcome, with scholarship students tracking the same or closer to non-care leaver students than their peers.
- The report was commissioned by Unite Students. The SMF retains full editorial independence.
About Unite Students
Unite Students is the UK’s largest owner, manager, and developer of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) serving the country’s world-leading higher education sector. We provide homes to 68,000 students across 151 properties in 23 leading university towns and cities. We currently partner with over 60 universities across the UK.
Our people are driven by a common purpose: to provide a ‘Home for Success’ for the students who live with us. Unite Students’ accommodation is safe and secure, high quality, and affordable. Students live predominantly in en-suite study bedrooms with rents covering all bills, insurance, 24-hour security and high-speed Wi-Fi.
About Unite Foundation
The Unite Foundation is a charitable incorporated organisation registered in England and Wales 1198601 and a charity registered in Scotland SC051987. We support estranged and care experienced students with a rent-free #HomeAtUniversity through a nationwide accommodation scholarship that is evidenced to be effective in transforming educational outcomes.
Contact
- For media enquiries, please contact Impact Officer Richa Kapoor, at richa@smf.co.uk
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